Joe Biden and Xi Jinping to meet today in first face-to-face meeting in a year – live

Utah’s Republican senator Mitt Romney has released a statement ahead of Joe Biden’s meeting with Xi Jinping today, urging the Biden administration to be “clear-eyed in its understanding of China’s nefarious economic intentions.”

In his statement, Romney said:

“Our government cannot continue to chase China with offers of concessions without concrete action from the Chinese Communist party, especially in instances where they have no interest in making meaningful changes to their own behavior in the first place.”

US national security advisor Jake Sullivan diverted from a question yesterday during a White House press briefing on whether Joe Biden agrees “it’s more important to impress the leader of China than the American people that live in San Francisco and pay taxes every day.”

“I completely reject the premise of your question,” Sullivan told the reporter.

California governor Gavin Newsom admitted that the cleanup of multiple homeless encampments throughout San Francisco was motivated by the visit of Xi Jinping and other world leaders ahead of the Apec summit.

Speaking to reporters last week, Newsom said:

“I know folks are saying, ‘Oh they’re just cleaning up this place because all those fancy leaders are coming to town.’ That’s true because it’s true, but it’s also true for months and months and months prior to APEC we’ve been having conversations.”

Alaska’s Republican senator Dan Sullivan has released a message to Joe Biden ahead of his meeting with Xi Jinping later today, saying:

“Mr. President, respectfully, when you meet Xi Jinping tomorrow, no kowtowing. Some of your cabinet members have not gotten that memo… The United States is in the power position in this relationship. Do not give that up.”

Here are some images of Joe Biden and Xi Jinping’s separate arrivals to San Francisco ahead of their bilateral meeting on Wednesday:

With the US and China pledging on Tuesday to cooperate more closely to fight climate change, both countries said that they would commit to “economy-wide” nationally determined contributions across all greenhouse gases, not just CO2.

The Guardian’s Amy Hawkins reports:

One of the most notable features in the climate statement was that both countries would commit to “economy-wide” nationally determined contributions (NDCs) across all greenhouse gases, not just CO₂. China has previously resisted the idea of specifying which parts of the economy would be covered by its climate pledges.

Li Shuo, the incoming director of the China Climate Hub at the Asia Policy Institute, said the language of “economy-wide” NDCs “implies a pretty stringent framework” that “will help enhance the transparency of China’s emissions”, a goal that the US has long pushed for.

The US and Chinese climate envoys, John Kerry and Xie Zhenhua, had met this month at the Sunnylands resort in California in an attempt to restart stalled cooperation. Experts agree that keeping the Paris goals in reach will require an enormous collective effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions this decade.

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Joe Biden is set to meet Chinese president Xi Jinping today in San Francisco – the first face-to-face meeting between the two leaders in a year.

The summit, which marks Xi’s first visit to the US in six years, has been widely regarded by US and Chinese officials as an opportunity for the two leaders to ease tensions amid a precarious geopolitical climate involving the Israel-Hamas and Russia-Ukraine wars.

Over the years, tensions surrounding trade, human rights and the future of Taiwan has deteriorated US-China relations. Following the then-House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan last year, which triggered outrage from China, military dialogues between the two countries have been largely suspended.

In addition to issues surrounding trade, human rights and Taiwan, the two leaders are also widely expected to discuss climate agreements. In a statement released alongside China on Tuesday, the state department said that the US and China “reaffirm their commitment to work jointly and together with other countries to address the climate crisis”.

Another major potential talking point between the two leaders is the control of the fentanyl pipeline from China to the US which has resulted in an opioid overdose epidemic across the US.

Here’s the timeline for Biden and Xi’s meeting today:

• Biden and Xi’s bilateral meeting is due to start at 2pm ET and is expected to last at least four hours.

• Biden is expected to hold a press conference at 7.15pm ET.

• The Bidens will then host a welcome reception for Apec leaders in San Francisco.

Here are other developments in US politics:

• Homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and FBI director Christopher Wray is set to testify before a homeland security subcomittee on worldwide threats, Politco reports.

• House speaker Mike Johnson has called the separation of church and state a “misnomer,” telling CNBC on Tuesday that “people misunderstand it.”