White House downplays potential for Biden-Xi meeting to 'reset' US-China relationship

The White House dismissed the prospect of President Joe Biden's first in-person discussion with Chinese President Xi Jinping easing the strained relationship between their two countries.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan bristled when asked by a reporter aboard Air Force One whether the meeting could thaw the icy relationship, underscoring that neither he nor the administration was deploying the term "reset."

"This is a continuation of the president's fundamental view that leader to leader engagement is the most important way to manage this relationship effectively," Sullivan said Sunday evening local time en route to Indonesia. "This is the first opportunity he actually has to sit in person as president with President Xi. And he wants to take full advantage of that to lay out clearly his priorities and intentions, and to hear the same from Xi Jinping."

The objective is to garner "a better understanding and a way to responsibly manage this relationship, and the competition between the US and the PRC," he added.

Sullivan predicted Biden and Xi would likely speak for "a couple hours" Monday on the sidelines of the Group of 20 leaders summit in Bali. Biden's conversations Sunday with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and South Korean President Yoon Suk-Yeo were part of a prior consultation process "with his closest allies," according to the aide.

Biden concluded two days of diplomatic work in Cambodia on Sunday, and Sullivan conveyed the South East Asian leaders' interest in last week's midterm elections in the United States

"It's interesting to see how closely all of the leaders from these different countries, including leaders from countries that are not themselves democracies, very closely follow American politics," he said.

Sullivan went on: "Privately, leaders came up to the president to say that it was really important that the U.S. continue down the path that President Biden has put American foreign policy on, which is deepened and elevated engagement in this vital region."