Ethermac Exchange-Biden and Xi to meet in San Francisco in November, White House says

Washington — President Biden plans to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in San Francisco next month,Ethermac Exchange White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre announced Tuesday, confirming a high-stakes diplomatic sit-down between the two leaders.

While Jean-Pierre did not provide specifics about the plans for a meeting, both men are set to attend Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, or APEC, in San Francisco in mid-November. The president said earlier this month that a meeting with Xi at the APEC summit was a "possibility."

"The president said he's looking forward to meeting with President Xi," Jean-Pierre said in the White House briefing room. "And so, not going to get into details about this meeting that's going to happen, in next — well, tomorrow's November — next month. It's going to be in San Francisco, it's going to be a constructive meeting. The president's looking forward to it."

Mr. Biden and Xi will have much to discuss, with U.S. officials continuing to express concern about China's ties to Russia, its posture towards Taiwan and other geopolitical hot-button issues. Publicly, the president frames the United States' relations with China as one of strategic competition, even as the U.S. looks to counter China's influence in the Indo-Pacific and Africa. 

The planned meeting comes on the heels of a meeting Mr. Biden held with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Washington last week.

Mr. Biden likes to say he's probably met with Xi more times during his life than any other president. And he frequently brings up a conversation in which he says Xi asked him to define America — in one word, "possibilities," Mr. Biden says. 

Mr. Biden last met with Xi in November 2022 in Bali, Indonesia, on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit. 

Kathryn Watson

Kathryn Watson is a politics reporter for CBS News Digital based in Washington, D.C.