President Xi Jinping has arrived in San Francisco for the Apec summit, his first trip to the US in six years.

Xi is expected to meet with his US counterpart Joe Biden on the sidelines of the forum. They last met at the G20 summit in Indonesia last year.

According to Reuters news agency, Xi is due to meet Biden at an undisclosed location in the San Francisco Bay Area on Wednesday morning and then attend the annual summit of the Apec forum.

Biden said he aimed to improve the relationship with China after a period of strained ties and would seek to resume normal communications, including military-to-military contacts.

The US leader told reporters what he wanted the talks with his Chinese counterpart to achieve: "To get back on a normal course of corresponding, to be able to pick up the phone and talk to one another if there's a crisis. To be able to make sure our militaries still have contact with one another.

"We're not trying to decouple from China. What we're trying to do is change the relationship for the better."

The Chinese community in San Francisco also expressed their hope for improved China-US ties ahead of the Xi-Biden talks.

Michael is one of a 1,000-strong Chinese delegation that flew in from New York to welcome President Xi to the Californian city.

He told RTHK that he hopes the talks will restore ties between the two superpowers.

“That's the action in San Francisco. It's very important. Not because of the whole economic development, but most importantly just for China and America just to exchange,” he said.

“So we really hope that America and China are very good. We don't want [it] to be… like the pandemic before, a lot of people were worried. But now is a good opportunity. We hope Mr Xi Jinping coming this time should be a solution for this relationship.”

Carol, who’s from the same delegation, said she hopes the world's two largest economies can work together to make the world a better place.

“[I feel] very excited. I want [them] to tell everyone that China and America are our lifeguard. I hope American people and Chinese people work together to make a better life,” she said.

Elvis, a US resident visiting from North Carolina, said it’s intriguing to see such a big turnout of the Chinese community in San Francisco.

He hopes the talks can ease tensions between the two countries, especially in terms of trade and e-commerce.

“I work in e-commerce, so we saw where the US-Chinese relationship is being affected in terms of distributing products here in the US. I hope that both countries find a way to work together and both countries find an economic future together, where there's a mutual benefit to each other,” he said.

“I know there needs to be a lot of compromises on both sides, so I hope that they're able to reach an agreement while they're here. I hope it's a productive meeting.”

White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Xi and Biden would also talk about the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza as well as US efforts to support Ukraine. (Additional reporting by Reuters)
_____________________________
Last updated: 2023-11-15 HKT 11:39