Biden says he will meet China's Xi 'soon or not'

WASHINGTON

US President Joe Biden said Wednesday he will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping, but emphasized that a timeline is far from certain.

"Whether it is soon or not, we will be meeting," Biden said in response to a shouted question from a reporter as he prepared to leave the US for a G-7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan.

US-Sino ties had already been under significant strain but relations between Washington and Beijing deteriorated dramatically after the discovery of what the Biden administration said was a high-altitude Chinese spy balloon above the continental US earlier this year.

China acknowledged ownership of the aircraft but maintains it was a weather balloon that had flown off course, condemning Washington's decision to down it and suspending some contacts with the US, including high-level military dialogue.

In the wake of the incident, the US called off what was to be a critical meeting of top diplomats to follow up on November's sit-down between Biden and Xi in Indonesia.

The White House said last week's two-day meeting between National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Wang Yi, China's top official for foreign affairs, "was part of ongoing efforts to maintain open lines of communication and responsibly manage competition."

"The two sides agreed to maintain this important strategic channel of communication to advance these objectives, building on the engagement between President Biden and President Xi in Bali, Indonesia, in November 2022," it said.