US President Joe Biden will hold a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping next Monday, a long-awaited virtual summit, at a time of increasing tension between the two countries over many issues, especially Taiwan, human rights and trade.
And American media, according to sources in the White House, indicated that President Biden will meet his Chinese counterpart via video call on November 15.
Xi and Biden have previously talked by phone twice, but this summit will be the first via video link between them, and it bears great importance as it represents an opportunity for the two superpowers to continue the dialogue between them at the highest level.
The White House announced in early October that the two presidents had agreed in principle to hold this summit, but the date was not specified.
In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters that the two presidents "agreed to maintain frequent contacts by multiple means," adding that the two countries "are in close contact now on specific arrangements for the two leaders' summit."
Last March, US and Chinese officials met in Anchorage, Alaska, for direct talks, which Washington described as difficult, and revealed the depth of tensions between the world's two largest economies at the beginning of President Joe Biden's administration.
And that summit led to an unprecedented overcoming of the deep differences between the two major world powers, but relations between the two largest economies in the world have returned and deteriorated in the past weeks, especially because of their dispute over Taiwan.