Biden’s Last Dance with Xi Jinping

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at the upcoming Biden-Xi meeting in Peru, New Zealand’s sweeping protests against a contentious bill, and diplomacy in the Russia–Ukraine war.

Last Dance

With just months to go before leaving office, U.S. President Joe Biden is set to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Lima, Peru, on Saturday, in what is expected to be the two leaders’ last meeting as presidents.

Saturday’s talks—which are taking place on the sidelines of this year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit—will mark the third time that the two leaders have met during Biden’s presidency. But a new uncertainty will hang over this weekend’s meeting, as Beijing braces for the return of President-elect Donald Trump and his threats of a more aggressive trade war.

Don’t expect any major announcements from this meeting; U.S. officials have already said that the focus isn’t on deliverables or other outcomes, but on laying the groundwork for a smooth transition. Biden has “demonstrated that our two countries can and must manage our differences and prevent competition from veering into conflict or confrontation by maintaining open lines of communication and advancing cooperation in areas of shared interest,” a senior U.S. administration official said during a briefing call with reporters, speaking on the condition of anonymity under guidelines set by the White House.

“This meeting will reflect on the progress to date, and we’ll expect to try to continue to ensure that we’ve got those channels working—law enforcement and [military-to-military] in particular—which we see as critical to underpinning stability in the relationship in the period ahead,” the official added.

Trump is all but certain to adopt a more mercantilist approach to U.S.-China relations, as FP’s Lili Pike wrote, and he has threatened to hike tariffs on all Chinese imports by as much as 60 percent.

That tough-on-China posturing is also reflected in the personnel Trump has named to his cabinet. He has selected outspoken China hawks Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Mike Waltz to serve as his secretary of state and national security advisor, respectively; Rubio’s appointment will require Senate confirmation. Trump also reportedly wants arch protectionist Robert Lighthizer—who served as U.S. trade representative during Trump’s first term—to return as trade czar.

China, meanwhile, has been preparing for a second Trump presidency, as Lizzi C. Lee, an expert on the Chinese economy at the Asia Society Policy Institute, wrote for Foreign Policy. While Trump’s first term caught Beijing off guard, “four years of navigating tariffs, tech restrictions, and trade tensions have given Chinese President Xi Jinping and his advisors a deeper understanding of the U.S. president’s playbook,” she wrote.

On Friday, Xi criticized any efforts to turn away from globalization in a speech that he wrote but was delivered by Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao at the APEC summit in Lima. “Blocking economic cooperation under various excuses and dividing an interdependent world is going back in history,” according to the speech.

Today’s Most Read

• Russia’s War Economy Is Hitting Its Limits by Marc R. DeVore and Alexander Mertens
• 6 Charts That Explain the 2024 U.S. Election by Claire Schnatterbeck and Anusha Rathi
• Beijing Has Already Prepared for Trump’s Return by Lizzi C. Lee

What We’re Following

Maori rights in New Zealand. More than 10,000 people have joined a march to New Zealand’s parliament in protest against proposed legislation that has alarmed the country’s Maori community. The controversial legislation, known as the Treaty Principles Bill, would reinterpret the British crown’s founding treaty with the Maori people, which is aimed at rectifying the harm done to the Maori during colonization and has long underpinned the country’s laws.

By reinterpreting that foundational text, the bill would undercut special rights afforded to the Maori people. The legislation was introduced by the right-wing Act party, which says that the bill pushes for “equal rights.” But the proposed legislation is widely unpopular and has stoked concern and anger among New Zealand’s Maori community, which accounts for around 17 percent of the country’s entire population.

Maori lawmakers protested the bill in Parliament on Thursday by performing a haka—a traditional ceremonial dance—on the floor of the chamber. After the protest, lawmaker Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke was suspended from Parliament for 24 hours.

Rare phone call. Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke on Friday for the first time since December 2022, according to German officials. During the phone call, Scholz “condemned the Russian war of aggression” and pressed Putin to withdraw his forces from Ukraine and end the war, German government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit said. Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, more than two and a half years ago.

“The chancellor urged Russia to be willing to negotiate with Ukraine with the aim of achieving a just and lasting peace and stressed Germany’s unwavering determination to support Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression for as long as necessary,” Hebestreit said. He added that Scholz spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky prior to calling Putin, and planned to do so again after Friday’s phone call. In his Friday evening address, Zelensky said the call opened “Pandora’s box” and undermined efforts to isolate Putin.

Boosted forces. As Israeli forces continue their bombardment of southern Lebanon, Israel plans to issue 7,000 draft notices to ultra-Orthodox Jews to boost enlistment in the Israel Defense Forces. Israel’s ultra-Orthodox population, which is also known as Haredim, currently accounts for more than 12 percent of the country’s entire population. “Anyone required to enlist must receive an order. We are at war,” former Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said in a post on X about the draft notices.

What in the World?

South African authorities spent much of the week in a standoff with hundreds of people who are believed to be illegally working and hiding in which type of mine?

A. Gold
B. Diamond
C. Graphite
D. Copper

Odds and Ends

Some people fear flying in airplanes, others—including your writer today—fear heights. Some even fear bananas. Leaked emails revealed that Swedish Gender Equality Minister Paulina Brandberg experiences extreme terror when she sees the long yellow fruit, a fear so severe that her staff must ensure that everywhere she goes is banana-free. One email asks to ensure that “no bananas are allowed on the premises,” while another requests “no traces of bananas.”

“It’s sort of an allergy, you could say,” Brandberg told the Swedish tabloid Expressen, which reported the emails. “It’s something that I get professional help with.” In since-deleted posts on X from 2020, she admitted to having such a fear, calling it the “world’s craziest phobia.”

And the Answer Is…

A. Gold.

Mining is still an important part of South Africa’s economy—coal mining alone employs about 90,000 people, Sam Matthews Boehmer wrote in June.

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