The White House is making plans for a possible face-to-face meeting between US President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping in San Francisco next month, as the two administrations continue efforts to stabilize their relationship, Washington said Thursday. Post.

Relations between the world’s two largest economies have been marked by tensions over a range of issues, from Taiwan to the causes of the novel coronavirus pandemic, from espionage allegations to human rights, trade and tariffs — among others.

The newspaper, citing unnamed sources in the US government, said the chances of a meeting taking place were good. One of her sources assured that the “process” of her design has begun.

If the summit takes place, it would follow a series of high-level contacts in recent months, which began with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s visit to Beijing in June. Then Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and, in between, the US special climate envoy – and former Secretary of State – John Kerry made trips to China.

More recently, Mr Blinken met Chinese Vice President Han Zheng in New York, while US presidential national security adviser Jake Sullivan met Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi in Malta.

San Francisco will host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in November, which Mr. Xi may attend. The Chinese president did not attend the G20 summit in New Delhi, which Mr Biden attended.

The most recent meeting of the two leaders – and the first ever since the octogenarian Democrat was elected president – ​​took place in November 2022, on the sidelines of the G20, in Mali, Indonesia. They have spoken five more times, by phone or video conference.

The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond when Reuters asked for comment on the newspaper’s report. The White House limited itself to stating that it had no comment to make at this time.