Biden says he's 'sure' he will see Xi at the G-20 summit if Chinese president attends

KEY POINTS

• "If he's there, I'm sure I'll see him," President Joe Biden said when asked if he would meet Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G-20 summit in November.
• Both Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin are planning to attend the conference of economic powers.

U.S. President Joe Biden holds a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, September 6, 2022.

Kevin Lamarque | Reuters

President Joe Biden said he would "see" Chinese President Xi Jinping if the fellow world leader also attends the upcoming G-20 Summit in November.

"If he's there, I'm sure I'll see him," Biden said Tuesday when asked if he would meet with Xi.

The summit, to be held on Indonesia's tourist island of Bali this year, is the annual gathering of the world's largest economies. Both Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin are planning to attend the conference, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said in an interview with Bloomberg News.

Xi has not left the country since January 2020, before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Biden and Xi previously discussed meeting at the G-20 during their July 28 phone call, which took place amid heightened tensions over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's trip to Taiwan. The Wall Street Journal previously reported that Chinese officials were planning a meeting between Xi and Biden in Southeast Asia in November.