Biden and Xi set to hold virtual summit this year: White House

Washington DC: The US and China have agreed in principle that President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will hold a virtual summit before the end of the year, a senior White House official said, amid high tension in bilateral relationship over Beijing's actions on issues like trade, human rights, the South China Sea and Taiwan.

The announcement by the White House followed a nearly six-hour meeting in Zurich between US national security adviser Jake Sullivan and his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi on Wednesday.

The move comes as tension between the countries spiked over Biden administration demands that Beijing cease military pressure against Taiwan and live up to its trade commitments.

In the past several days, China has sent about 150 warplanes into Taiwan's air defence zone, prompting warnings from the Biden administration against Beijing's coercive actions against the self-ruled island.

During the meeting, Sullivan raised areas where the United States and China have an interest in working together to address vital transnational challenges, and ways to manage "risks" in the relationship, the White House said in a readout of the call.

Sullivan raised a number of areas where the US have concern with the Chinese actions, including actions related to human rights, Xinjiang, Hong Kong, the South China Sea, and Taiwan, it said.

The meeting between Sullivan and Yang, a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, followed up on the September 9 phone call between Biden and Xi in which the leaders discussed the importance of maintaining open lines of communication to responsibly manage the competition between the two countries.

The decision on virtual summit was taken given that the two leaders are unlikely to be present at the same time for the rest of the year.

I think all of you will have seen reported that Xi Jinping does not plan to travel to the G20 and in the conversations today we therefore, discussed what might be waiting for the new leaders, to have more substantive engagement given that we don't expect to be in the same place in the near future, a senior administration official said.

So, we do have an agreement in principle to hold a virtual bilateral meeting between the leaders before the end of the year, said the official, noting that the details of the meetings are still being worked out.

"Sullivan made clear that while we will continue to invest in our own national strength and work closely with our allies and partners, we will also continue to engage with the People's Republic of China (PRC) at a senior level to ensure responsible competition," the White House readout said.

According to the senior administration official, the conversation between Sullivan and Yang was candid, direct and wide ranging.