Covert-Li
China is keeping mum about Premier Li Qiang’s meeting with US President Joe Biden.
What we know: Over the weekend, Biden met with Li on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in India.
- The meeting between the pair is highest-level face-to-face interaction between the US and China since Biden met with Xi Jinping at last November’s G20 Summit in Bali.
- It’s also Li’s first meeting with Biden.
At the time of writing, the foreign ministry had released only a short statement on the meeting (The Paper):
- “During the G20 Leaders' Summit, [Li] had brief exchanges with leaders from various countries including US President Biden.”
- “Premier Li…emphasized to President Biden that China's development is an opportunity rather than a challenge for the United States.”
At a press conference in Hanoi, Biden (sort of) provided some clarity (The White House):
- “We talked about stability. We talked about making sure that…the Southern Hemisphere had access to change.”
- “It wasn’t confrontational at all.”
Hmmm. Not much to go off.
Get smart: The fact that neither side is saying much about the meeting indicates that there were no big breakthroughs or deliverables from the meeting (not that any were expected).
What we want to know: Did Li indicate that Xi is planning to attend the November APEC summit in San Francisco?
Stay tuned: We expect more information about Li and Biden's meeting to emerge in the coming days.