WSJ: Preparations Underway For Chinese President Xi To Visit U.S.

The Wall Street Journal reports that preparations are underway for Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit the US, likely at the APEC Summit in San Francisco in November. If the trip takes place it will be the first meeting between Biden and Xi since the G20 summit in Bali last November.

• WSJ: "Both sides are discussing a trip to Washington by Xi’s top economic-policy aide, Vice Premier He Lifeng... He would be the most senior official to travel to the U.S. since President Biden took office... planning is also under way for Foreign Minister Wang Yi to visit Washington in October to prepare for a Xi summit with Biden..."
• The Journal cautions that, "...with deep-seated suspicion and entrenched differences on most issues. Disagreements could boil over and scuttle a summit or visits by other senior Chinese officials."
• US officials yesterday thanked China for their role in the transfer of Private Travis King, a US soldier who had been detained in North Korea since July, but said the PRC hadn't directly mediated his release.
• State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters yesterday: "...we have seen an increase in the tempo of our conversations with the Chinese Government across a number of fronts since [Secretary of State Antony Blinken] traveled to Beijing in June... not just here but at other departments in the United States Government... We have other meetings that we’ll be able to make public in the very near future where we’re exchanging views with China on a number of issues."