Biden, Xi Meet as Countries Move Toward Reopening Communication

The leaders’ first face-to-face meeting since Mr. Biden won the presidency is taking place in Bali, Indonesia, ahead of a summit between the heads of the Group of 20 nations. It comes after months of tensions that hit their highest point in decades following House Speaker

Nancy Pelosi’s

visit to Taiwan in August. Beijing responded to the visit by conducting military drills and said it was shutting down much of its communication with the U.S. government.

Both sides have played down the possibility that Monday’s meeting would result in a significant policy breakthrough on the issues straining ties between the two nations, such as Taiwan and trade. But in the run-up to the talks, the U.S. and China moved toward resuming regular dialogue between officials overseeing climate, military and other issues that stalled after Mrs. Pelosi’s trip, according to people briefed on the matter.

Senior American officials have for months been publicly and privately pressing China to reopen formal communications channels, people with knowledge of the matter said. Monday’s meeting is intended to re-establish ways that the two powers may be able to work together and avoid unintended conflicts, they said.

Before the meeting, Messrs. Biden and Xi shook hands in front of a row of American and Chinese flags as they posed for photos.

“Good to see you,” Mr. Biden said.

For Mr. Xi, the meeting provides an opportunity to restate China’s red lines to Mr. Biden, face to face, for the first time. These include Beijing’s insistence that Washington shouldn’t aid in the Taiwan’s defense and that China wouldn’t shy away from a military clash with the U.S. to assert control over the democratically self-ruled island, according to people familiar with the matter.

Any possible visits from senior U.S. politicians to Taiwan could be seen by the Chinese as provocative actions and could raise the possibility of actual clashes between the countries, the people said. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) has said he would visit Taiwan if he becomes speaker. Republicans are inching toward taking back control of the House.

Mr. Xi is also expected to discuss with Mr. Biden the new U.S. export restrictions on advanced semiconductors and chip-manufacturing equipment, the people said. The Commerce Department issued a set of rules last month that would allow the U.S. to block foreign-made chips that are manufactured with American technology in an effort to prevent them from advancing China’s military power.

“We hope the U.S. could work together with China to properly manage differences, advance mutually beneficial cooperation, avoid misunderstanding and miscalculation and bring China-U.S. relations back to the right track of sound and steady development,” Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman

Mao Ning

said on Monday.

The meeting will include small delegations of American and Chinese advisers. While Messrs. Biden and Xi have had five virtual or phone meetings since last year, White House officials hope the talks will build upon the extensive interactions that the two leaders had when they were vice presidents.

“He’ll have that opportunity to sit and be totally straightforward and direct and to hear President Xi be totally straightforward and direct in return,” said White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, previewing the talks aboard Air Force One. “And try to come out of that meeting with a better understanding and a way to responsibly manage this relationship.”

Mr. Xi claimed a norm-breaking third term as Communist Party chief in late October, when he also elevated loyalists into the party’s top echelons. The personnel reshuffle is expected to continue until China’s annual legislative session in the spring, where top state positions—including the premiership and other cabinet roles—will be formalized.

Meanwhile, some American officials aren’t sure who their direct counterparts may be. That uncertainty, along with the suspension of many bilateral communications channels, has complicated Washington’s efforts to engage Beijing on a range of issues, from trade to law-enforcement cooperation.

American officials said they view the meeting as an opportunity to gain some clarity on new points of contact in the Chinese government. Mr. Xi is expected to bring newly empowered members of his leadership to Monday’s meeting, the officials said.

Without Mr. Xi’s signoff, it can be difficult for U.S. officials to have detailed policy discussions with Chinese officials. Mr. Biden’s advisers hope to emerge from the meeting with directives from Messrs. Xi and Biden to engage in continued talks on key issues of mutual interest and perhaps lay the groundwork for future conversations between the two leaders.

“What I’m very much hoping is that as a result of the president’s bilateral with President Xi today, we’ll engage in more intensive conversations going forward with our Chinese counterparts” on the economy and economic policy, Treasury Secretary

Janet Yellen

said Monday.

Following the meeting, the U.S. and Chinese governments are planning to issue separate summaries of the discussions. The two sides aren’t expected to release a joint statement, U.S. officials said.

The two countries have been planning for the talks for several months, after Messrs. Biden and Xi tasked their respective advisers to set up an in-person meeting during a July phone call. The intensive—and sometimes contentious—planning discussions have helped open up communication between the two sides, according to the U.S. officials. The Wall Street Journal first reported the discussions in August.

The conversation between the two leaders is likely to be tightly choreographed, unlike the freewheeling interactions Messrs. Biden and Xi had before they ascended to the presidency. Every element of the meeting has been negotiated and haggled over in dozens of hours of talks between the two sides, the U.S. officials said.

The war in Ukraine is expected to be a topic of discussion during the meeting. Despite China’s ties with Russia, U.S. officials said they are confident that Mr. Xi has reservations about the war in Ukraine and

Vladimir Putin’s

threat to use nuclear weapons.

U.S. officials would like to receive reassurances from Mr. Xi during the meeting that he opposes the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine, something the Chinese president has told other world leaders.

Mr. Biden arrived in Bali on Sunday following a trip to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where he attended a pair of summits with Southeast and East Asian nations. U.S. officials laid out new economic and maritime initiatives at the meetings, seeking to present the U.S. as a counterweight to China, which has strong ties with Southeast Asian countries.

Mr. Biden met with the leaders of Japan and South Korea on Sunday and discussed the North Korean missile tests that have rattled the region. Ahead of that meeting, Mr. Sullivan said Mr. Biden would convey to Mr. Xi that North Korea represented a threat not just to the three nations but the broader region.

Additional provocations by Pyongyang could “simply mean further enhanced American military and security presence in the region,” Mr. Sullivan said.

—Chun Han Wong and Andrew Duehren contributed to this article.

Write to Andrew Restuccia at [email protected], Keith Zhai at [email protected] and Ken Thomas at [email protected]

The leaders’ first face-to-face meeting since Mr. Biden won the presidency is taking place in Bali, Indonesia, ahead of a summit between the heads of the Group of 20 nations. It comes after months of tensions that hit their highest point in decades following House Speaker

Nancy Pelosi’s

visit to Taiwan in August. Beijing responded to the visit by conducting military drills and said it was shutting down much of its communication with the U.S. government.

Both sides have played down the possibility that Monday’s meeting would result in a significant policy breakthrough on the issues straining ties between the two nations, such as Taiwan and trade. But in the run-up to the talks, the U.S. and China moved toward resuming regular dialogue between officials overseeing climate, military and other issues that stalled after Mrs. Pelosi’s trip, according to people briefed on the matter.

Senior American officials have for months been publicly and privately pressing China to reopen formal communications channels, people with knowledge of the matter said. Monday’s meeting is intended to re-establish ways that the two powers may be able to work together and avoid unintended conflicts, they said.

Before the meeting, Messrs. Biden and Xi shook hands in front of a row of American and Chinese flags as they posed for photos.

“Good to see you,” Mr. Biden said.

For Mr. Xi, the meeting provides an opportunity to restate China’s red lines to Mr. Biden, face to face, for the first time. These include Beijing’s insistence that Washington shouldn’t aid in the Taiwan’s defense and that China wouldn’t shy away from a military clash with the U.S. to assert control over the democratically self-ruled island, according to people familiar with the matter.

Any possible visits from senior U.S. politicians to Taiwan could be seen by the Chinese as provocative actions and could raise the possibility of actual clashes between the countries, the people said. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) has said he would visit Taiwan if he becomes speaker. Republicans are inching toward taking back control of the House.

Mr. Xi is also expected to discuss with Mr. Biden the new U.S. export restrictions on advanced semiconductors and chip-manufacturing equipment, the people said. The Commerce Department issued a set of rules last month that would allow the U.S. to block foreign-made chips that are manufactured with American technology in an effort to prevent them from advancing China’s military power.

“We hope the U.S. could work together with China to properly manage differences, advance mutually beneficial cooperation, avoid misunderstanding and miscalculation and bring China-U.S. relations back to the right track of sound and steady development,” Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman

Mao Ning

said on Monday.

The meeting will include small delegations of American and Chinese advisers. While Messrs. Biden and Xi have had five virtual or phone meetings since last year, White House officials hope the talks will build upon the extensive interactions that the two leaders had when they were vice presidents.

“He’ll have that opportunity to sit and be totally straightforward and direct and to hear President Xi be totally straightforward and direct in return,” said White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, previewing the talks aboard Air Force One. “And try to come out of that meeting with a better understanding and a way to responsibly manage this relationship.”

Mr. Xi claimed a norm-breaking third term as Communist Party chief in late October, when he also elevated loyalists into the party’s top echelons. The personnel reshuffle is expected to continue until China’s annual legislative session in the spring, where top state positions—including the premiership and other cabinet roles—will be formalized.

Meanwhile, some American officials aren’t sure who their direct counterparts may be. That uncertainty, along with the suspension of many bilateral communications channels, has complicated Washington’s efforts to engage Beijing on a range of issues, from trade to law-enforcement cooperation.

American officials said they view the meeting as an opportunity to gain some clarity on new points of contact in the Chinese government. Mr. Xi is expected to bring newly empowered members of his leadership to Monday’s meeting, the officials said.

Without Mr. Xi’s signoff, it can be difficult for U.S. officials to have detailed policy discussions with Chinese officials. Mr. Biden’s advisers hope to emerge from the meeting with directives from Messrs. Xi and Biden to engage in continued talks on key issues of mutual interest and perhaps lay the groundwork for future conversations between the two leaders.

“What I’m very much hoping is that as a result of the president’s bilateral with President Xi today, we’ll engage in more intensive conversations going forward with our Chinese counterparts” on the economy and economic policy, Treasury Secretary

Janet Yellen

said Monday.

Following the meeting, the U.S. and Chinese governments are planning to issue separate summaries of the discussions. The two sides aren’t expected to release a joint statement, U.S. officials said.

The two countries have been planning for the talks for several months, after Messrs. Biden and Xi tasked their respective advisers to set up an in-person meeting during a July phone call. The intensive—and sometimes contentious—planning discussions have helped open up communication between the two sides, according to the U.S. officials. The Wall Street Journal first reported the discussions in August.

The conversation between the two leaders is likely to be tightly choreographed, unlike the freewheeling interactions Messrs. Biden and Xi had before they ascended to the presidency. Every element of the meeting has been negotiated and haggled over in dozens of hours of talks between the two sides, the U.S. officials said.

The war in Ukraine is expected to be a topic of discussion during the meeting. Despite China’s ties with Russia, U.S. officials said they are confident that Mr. Xi has reservations about the war in Ukraine and

Vladimir Putin’s

threat to use nuclear weapons.

U.S. officials would like to receive reassurances from Mr. Xi during the meeting that he opposes the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine, something the Chinese president has told other world leaders.

Mr. Biden arrived in Bali on Sunday following a trip to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where he attended a pair of summits with Southeast and East Asian nations. U.S. officials laid out new economic and maritime initiatives at the meetings, seeking to present the U.S. as a counterweight to China, which has strong ties with Southeast Asian countries.

Mr. Biden met with the leaders of Japan and South Korea on Sunday and discussed the North Korean missile tests that have rattled the region. Ahead of that meeting, Mr. Sullivan said Mr. Biden would convey to Mr. Xi that North Korea represented a threat not just to the three nations but the broader region.

Additional provocations by Pyongyang could “simply mean further enhanced American military and security presence in the region,” Mr. Sullivan said.

—Chun Han Wong and Andrew Duehren contributed to this article.

Write to Andrew Restuccia at [email protected], Keith Zhai at [email protected] and Ken Thomas at [email protected]