Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in San Francisco on Tuesday for his first face-to-face talks with President Joe Biden in a year.
California Governor Gavin Newsom, his partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen greeted the Chinese leader as he exited his plane.
Earlier Tuesday, Newsom greeted Biden as he landed in San Francisco.
Biden and Xi will sit together on Wednesday on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum summit in Filoli, a remote estate on the Northern California coast.
California Governor Gavin Newsom and his partner Jennifer at San Francisco airport
Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives at San Francisco International Airport to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit and meet with President Joe Biden
Newsom had his own meeting with Xi in Beijing last month during an official trip to California and worked to clean up the streets of San Francisco before more than 20 world leaders arrived on its shores.
“I am here expecting, as you suggest, to turn the tide, to renew our friendship and to revisit the fundamental and fundamental questions that will shape our collective belief in the future,” Newsom said at that October meeting in Beijing.
While the eyes of the world were on San Francisco, Newsom boasted about work to “clean up” San Francisco in the run-up to the APEC summit – hours before a Czech television crew covering the summit was robbed of their cameras at gunpoint.
Newsom said work had been done to improve security in the crime-ridden city, where robberies were up 13.7 percent from last year and businesses were fleeing an empty downtown.
“I know people say, ‘Oh, they’re just cleaning up here because all these fancy leaders are coming to town,'” Newsom said late last week.
But on Sunday evening, a Czech television crew covering the summit was stopped at gunpoint and robbed of their equipment.
Bohumil Vostal and his colleagues were filming in front of the well-known bookstore “City Lights” at 5 p.m. on Sunday when three masked men attacked them.
“They walked up to my cameraman and pointed a gun at his stomach and one at my head,” Vostal told The San Francisco Chronicle.
Vostal said the equipment was worth $18,000 – and they also lost a day’s worth of footage.
California Governor Gavin Newsom (r.) and his partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom (l.) watch as Chinese President Xi Jinping (r.) greets guests at the airport
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was also on hand to greet President Xi
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (left) meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Oct. 25
Chinese President Xi Jinping drives in a motorcade to his hotel in San Francisco
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s motorcade prepares for departure after arriving at San Francisco International Airport
Meanwhile, shortly before leaving the White House, Biden briefly commented on the tense relationship between the US and China.
He demanded that they be returned to a “normal course of correspondence.”
“We are not trying to decouple from China.” “We are trying to change the relationship for the better,” he said.
Biden’s meeting with Xi on Wednesday is the main event of his four-day visit to San Francisco, where the leaders of the 21 economies that make up the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum are meeting for their annual summit.
The president’s motorcade was greeted by hundreds of cheering people as he drove from San Francisco International Airport to his downtown location.
They waved Chinese and American flags and cheered as the motorcade sped by.
Meanwhile, Filoli was built as a private home in 1917 and later declared a National Trust for Historic Preservation Site. The property is approximately 25 miles south of San Francisco. The Associated Press reported that the leaders’ meeting took place there, which was not publicly announced for security reasons.
President Joe Biden greets California Gov. Gavin Newsom, center, and his wife Jennifer, San Francisco London Breed, and Rep. Kevin Mullin, D-Calif., at the front, as he arrives at San Francisco International Airport for the APEC summit. Newsom has emerged as a top campaign surrogate for the 80-year-old Biden
Gavin Newsom, along with his wife Jennifer, met with the president in San Francisco
California Governor Gavin Newsom and his wife Jennifer wait to greet President Joe Biden at San Francisco International Airport. Newsom will host a fundraiser for Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday evening
President Biden was greeted by hundreds of people who lined his motorcade in downtown San Francisco – cheering him on as he sped by
All smiles: Biden and the Newsoms share a joke as the President’s Secret Service looks on
U.S.-China relations have been strained for months, but the White House is hoping a weakening U.S. economy and falling unemployment can give the country new credibility during Biden’s talks with other leaders.
“The president really feels like we have a tailwind here,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said on the flight west.
In addition, Biden was urged to meet San Francisco’s homeless and see firsthand the city’s plight while in the city by the bay. Social rights advocates have criticized the recent cleanup on the streets of San Francisco, saying it was simply aimed at avoiding embarrassing the country when all foreign leaders are in the city.
But while Asia-Pacific issues are on the table, Biden will also work to prevent the war between Israel and Hamas from escalating into a larger conflict and to convince Republican lawmakers to continue spending billions more on the costly efforts Ukraine, Russia’s nearly 21-month-old invasion.
Joy: Gavin and Jennifer Newsom laugh as Biden prepares to board The Beast in San Francisco
Supporters await the arrival of Chinese President Xi Jinping alongside the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.
President Joe Biden is in San Francisco for important talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the APEC conference
Biden’s agenda includes international diplomacy, economic cooperation – and campaign fundraising
“President Biden will be doing much more in the coming week than just meeting with President Xi,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Monday.
He added that Biden will lay out his economic vision for the region, argue that the U.S. is “the preeminent engine” of sustained economic growth in the Asia-Pacific, and describe the region as critical to U.S. economic growth.
While in San Francisco, Biden will also attend a fundraiser for his re-election on Tuesday evening. He will also hold a bilateral meeting with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.