WASHINGTON—The Biden administration is communicating with senior Chinese officials, but there are no immediate plans to host a second phone call between the president and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, the White House said on July 9.
“Certainly, we are in touch, at a very high level, with Chinese leaders. In terms of an upcoming call with President Xi, I don’t have anything to predict on that front,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during a press briefing, in response to a question by The Epoch Times.
Since then, Biden has embarked on a campaign of rallying allies in Europe and elsewhere to jointly confront global threats posed by the communist regime, as well as its rampant human rights abuses. These actions have been met with scorn by Chinese Communist Party officials.
Last month, national security adviser Jake Sullivan also said that the White House was planning to step up engagement with China in coming months “in some ways to take stock of” where both countries are in their relationship and to ensure some kind of “direct communication” that Biden has found valuable with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Biden “will look for opportunities to engage with President Xi going forward,” Sullivan said during a press call on June 17.
He also didn’t rule out the possibility of a meeting on the sidelines of the upcoming Group of Twenty (G–20) summit in October.
“We don’t have any particular plans at the moment, but I would note that both leaders are likely to be at the G20 in Italy in October. So I will leave it at that for now,” he said.
Psaki didn’t confirm any summit with Xi but said, “I know that G–20 summit is coming up right around Halloween, but that is quite some time from now in terms of the planning and what other events may or may not be around it.”