The White House has announced that President Joe Biden will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping face-to-face for the first time in a year at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco.

The meeting will cover global topics such as the Israel-Hamas war, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, North Korea’s connections with Russia, Taiwan, the Indo-Pacific, human rights, fentanyl, artificial intelligence, and “fair” trade and economic relations.

Biden has been pushing for the meeting for a year, believing Beijing is aggressively undermining US policies worldwide.

Diplomacy on climate, global health, economic stability, counter-narcotics, and possibly the restoration of some military-to-military channels is expected to increase.

Both sides may make minor goodwill gestures to ease talks. Analysts believe both men arrive with skepticism, grievances, and muddled ideas of what the other wants.