US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping are scheduled to meet next Wednesday, November 15, in San Francisco, in the first summit between the two powers in a year, informed sources told AFP.

The parties have yet to officially confirm the date, but arrangements have been made for the meeting to take place on the 15th, a US official and a diplomat serving in Washington said on condition of anonymity.

The meeting will take place on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. The USA is the host of the session, China is a member state of the international forum.

Although nothing official has been finalized yet, Washington and Beijing have hinted that the meeting will take place.

White House spokeswoman Karin Jean-Pierre told the press on October 31 that the US presidency looks forward to a “constructive discussion” in San Francisco.

The summit will be the first since November 2022 in Bali, Indonesia, on the sidelines of the G20. At the time, both sides had characterized the talks as positive, stressing that they sought to avoid the escalation of the competition between the two powers, the conflict between them.

But at the beginning of the year, the tension between Washington and Beijing reached sky high, on the occasion of the story of a Chinese hot air balloon flying at a high altitude over the USA, which the American government called a spy and sent a fighter jet to shoot it down.

On the other hand, the Chinese government is facing growing resentment at escalating US economic pressure, especially restrictions on microchip exports citing Washington’s concerns that Beijing will use them for military purposes.

Also fueling bilateral tension is the issue of Taiwan, an island that China considers a province and has never ruled out using force to secure its reunification with the mainland.