Biden and China’s Xi shake hands to kick off San Francisco summit

SAN FRANCISCO — President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping shook hands Wednesday to kick off a bilateral meeting between the leaders of the world’s two largest economies — with talks expected cover Chinese exports of fentanyl, trade and regional disputes.

Biden, 80, and Xi, 70, are meeting for the second time in-person since as their nations’ leaders following a summit last year in Bali, Indonesia.

The American president is expected to give a press conference without Xi later Wednesday following hours of private conversation.

US officials gave vague but optimistic projections for the meeting — but stopped short of confirming a report that Xi will agree to crack down on exports of fentanyl.

The largely China-sourced synthetic opioid has killed roughly 200,000 Americans since Biden took office. As of the latest CDC data, fentanyl is killing more than 200 US residents each day.

Biden also has faced Republican pressure to push Xi for transparency on the origins of COVID-19, which killed more than 1.1 million Americans after what several US agencies assess was likely a leak from a Wuhan lab. Biden said in a 2021 written statement that “[t]he world deserves answers, and I will not rest until we get them,” but he almost never mentions it publicly.

Biden regularly reminisces about his time spent with Xi during his eight years as vice president and tells a story in many public appearances about a visit to the Tibetan Plateau where, he says, he told Xi he could define America as the land of “possibilities.”

Thus far, Biden has kept in place a raft of tariffs on Chinese goods that were imposed by former President Donald Trump, though subordinates have studies their possible repeal.

In exchange for a fentanyl crackdown, the White House has weighed for months lifting some sanctions over alleged Chinese abuses against Uyghurs in western China in exchange for more action to stem exports of the drug, which can kill often unwitting users in extremely low doses.

A senior administration official told The Post that “I think the two leaders will talk about steps going forward, which we believe will be deeply consequential in addressing the scourge of fentanyl in the United States.”

“Time will tell,” the official added.

“This is not something that you can make judgments on immediately, but we believe that China has taken it seriously,” the official said. “I think we’ll see progress on this.”

Biden and Xi also are expected to discuss the US stance toward territorial disputes in the South China Sea, including a recent naval incident involving the US-allied Philippines, as well as tension over Taiwan.

Beijing broke off communications with US officials on military, counter-narcotics and other matters in protest of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s August 2022 visit to Taiwan.

National security counsel spokesman John Kirby told reporters Wednesday that US officials expect the meeting to enhance further cooperation “up and down the chain of command” between American and Chinese officials.

“I’ll let the President speak for the meeting when it’s over and how he found it and where he thinks his personal relationship with Xi is gonna go. But I think we’re all expecting that this will be a productive discussion today,” Kirby said.

Biden is meeting with Xi as House Republicans pursue an impeachment inquiry into Biden’s role during and after his vice presidency in his son Hunter Biden and brother James Biden’s foreign dealings, including in China.

Congressional Republicans have accused Biden of being compromised in his dealings with China due to his family’s business interests.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told The Post last week that he believes Biden is “soft” on China and that “it probably has something to do with business relationships and may very well involve Hunter and James Biden and some of the deals they made over there.”

Trump, 77, who is seeking a rematch against Biden in next year’s election, claimed in an August video that Biden “is petrified of China because they know exactly how much money was given to him and they know exactly where it is.”

Hunter Biden, now 53, cofounded a state-backed Chinese investment fund called BHR Partners in 2013 just 12 days after joining his father aboard Air Force Two for an official trip to Beijing.

Joe Biden had coffee with BHR’s incoming CEO Jonathan Li during the trip and later spoke with Li on speaker phone during a subsequent visit to China by the then-second son, former Hunter Biden business partner Devon Archer told the House Oversight Committee during a July deposition.

Hunter held onto a 10% stake in BHR through at least part of his father’s first year as president and the terms of his divestment remain murky. BHR has played an influential role in acquiring foreign assets for China and helped facilitate a Chinese firm’s purchase of a Congolese cobalt mine from US and Canadian companies in 2016. Cobalt is an important material for making electric vehicle batteries.

In a second Chinese business relationship, Hunter and James Biden received at least $6.1 million in 2017 and 2018 from CEFC China Energy, a since-defunct company that was reputed to be a component of the Chinese government’s “Belt and Road” foreign influence initiative.

CEFC wired $3 million in March 2017 to Biden family associate Rob Walker — less than two months after Joe Biden left office as vice president — of which $1,065,000 went to Hunter Biden, James Biden and Hallie Biden, who was married to Joe Biden’s late son Beau before dating Hunter.

Joe Biden was at one point penciled in for a 10% cut in the CEFC venture, according to a May 2017 email written by Biden family associate James Gilliar, who referred to the politician as the “big guy.”

CEFC sent another $5.1 million to Biden family-linked accounts within 10 days of a threatening July 30, 2017, text message from Hunter Biden to a China-based CEFC associate, in which he threatened his father’s wrath.

“I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled,” Hunter Biden wrote.

“Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight,” Hunter wrote. “And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang, or the chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction.”

“I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father,” he added.

President Biden told The Post in June that he was not involved with the shakedown message and has broadly denied any misconduct regarding his family’s dealings, blustering “where’s the money?” in June when asked about an FBI informant’s claim he was involved in a $10 million Ukraine bribery scheme involving Hunter’s former $1 million-per-year job at gas company Burisma.