As Trump return looms, China's Xi calls for more free trade in Asia

LIMA: Joe Biden meets Chinese president Xi Jinping for the last time as U.S. president on Saturday, but the leaders' goal of lowering tensions before Donald Trump's inauguration is challenged by fresh conflicts over cyber crime, trade, Taiwan and Russia.

Biden and Xi will huddle on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Lima, Peru - for their first talks in seven months - where Pacific Rim leaders are assessing the implications of Trump's return to power as U.S. president on Jan. 20. They were set to meet at 4 p.m. local time (2100 GMT), the White House said.

Washington is incensed by a recent China-linked hack of the telephone communications of U.S. government and presidential campaign officials, and it is anxious about increasing pressure by Beijing on Taiwan and Chinese support for Russia.

Taiwan President Lai Ching-te is planning to stop in the U.S. state of Hawaii and maybe Guam on a sensitive visit that is sure to anger Beijing in the coming weeks, Reuters reported on Friday. Meanwhile, Biden met Taiwan's representative the summit, former economy minister Lin Hsin-i, who invited him to visit Taiwan in the near future.

China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory. The U.S. is Taiwan's most important international backer and arms supplier, despite the lack of formal diplomatic recognition.

At the same time, Beijing's economy is taking a stiff hit from Biden's steps on trade, including a plan to restrict U.S. investment in Chinese artificial intelligence, quantum computing and semiconductors and export restrictions on high-end computer chips. All of those topics are expected to figure into the talks, U.S. officials said.

China routinely denies U.S. hacking allegations, regards Taiwan as internal matter and has protested American statements on Sino-Russian trade. A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington declined to comment.

BLANKET TARIFFS
Trump has vowed to adopt blanket 60% tariffs on U.S. imports of Chinese goods as part of a package of "America First" trade measures. Beijing opposes those steps. The Republican president-elect also plans to hire several hawkish voices on China in senior roles, including U.S. Senator Marco Rubio as secretary of state and Representative Mike Waltz as national security adviser.

On Wednesday, Biden national security adviser Jake Sullivan described the transition as "a time when competitors and adversaries can see possibly opportunity." Biden will stress with Xi the "need to maintain stability, clarity, predictability through this transition between the United States and China."

Shen Dingli, a Shanghai-based international relations scholar, said China wants the meeting to ease tensions during the transition period. "China definitely does not want relations with the United States to be thrown into turmoil before Trump formally takes office," said Shen.

The summit in South America offers new signs of the challenges to the United States' power in its own backyard, where China is on a charm offensive.

Xi, who arrived in Lima on Thursday, plans a week-long diplomatic blitz in Latin America that includes a refurbished free-trade agreement with Peru, inaugurating the massive Chancay deep-water port there and being welcomed in Brazil's capital next week for a state visit.

China is seeking Latin America's metal ores, soybeans, and other commodities, but U.S. officials worry they may also be looking for new U.S.-adjacent military and intelligence outposts. Chinese state-backed media has called those accusations a smear.

A U.S. official said Washington's commitment to the region was strong and that Chinese infrastructure investment overseas has declined in recent years due to domestic challenges and problems with the projects.

But Ryan Berg, director of the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, said Xi would meet with a good reception in the region.

"Biden's trip will be overshadowed very clearly by all of the things that Xi Jinping will be up to when he visits APEC," he said. "When Xi meets with Biden part of his audience is not – it's not solely the White House or the U.S. government. It's about American CEOs and continued U.S. investment or trying to renew U.S. investment in China and get rid of the perception that there's a hostile business environment in China."