Trevor Hunnicutt and David Brunnstrom by Michael Martina

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – White House officials have begun preparing for a virtual meeting with President Joe Biden. They hope that this will demonstrate to the world Washington is capable of managing relations between rival superpowers.

Biden’s early diplomatic disputes with China irritated allies. U.S. officials think direct engagement is the best approach to preventing the relations between two of the largest economies on the planet spiraling into conflict.

Two sources close to the situation said that Washington wants to host a video conference between Biden (and Xi) in November due China’s COVID restrictions. However, plans remain under review.

After consultations with allies and during the next week’s Summit of Group of 20 Countries in Rome as well as a U.N. Climate Conference in Glasgow, an agenda is unlikely to be agreed upon.

Biden will participate in both forums. Xi has not been to China since before the pandemic.

While the stakes for the Biden-Xi meeting are high – Washington and Beijing have been sparring on issues from the origins of the pandemic to China’s expanding nuclear arsenal – Biden’s team is so far setting low expectations for specific outcomes and has declined to say what the agenda might include.

According to a top administration official, “We are still working on details of the virtual bilateral meeting” and that there was nothing for us to see at the moment.

Sources familiar with current plans spoke under condition of anonymity. They said that meeting would bring about a big outcome and stability in what Washington calls long-term strategic rivalry.

In talks held in Switzerland, both sides reached an agreement to have the conference virtualized by the end of the year. The communication would be between the leaders and aimed at establishing relations in a more constructive direction, a top U.S. government official stated.

The official stated that leaders should take a greater role in managing the relationship.

Susan Thornton is a former State Department senior official for Asia, now with the Brookings Institution. She said that the meeting would help to repair communication gaps and bring an end to relations in what was still a downward spiral.

She said, “That’s not an end in itself. However it helps to prevent things getting worse.”

Chinese officials tried to gain an advantage during a trade dispute under former President Donald Trump by suggesting that U.S. officials wanted talks. Biden officials are now trying to portray the United States as the responsible power, and have told journalists that Biden initiated their interaction after a September 9 phone conversation between Biden, Xi, and Biden.

Biden is a departure from Trump’s China-only approach and has set his sights on mobilizing partners and allies in Europe and Asia, to enhance leverage over Beijing.

David O’Sullivan was the ex-EU ambassador to Washington. He told Reuters that European allies were “very anxious” about improperly managed U.S.–China relations. This became evident during tense public exchanges at high level diplomatic meetings in Alaska. March.

“These are the kinds of messages people are sending to the administration. He said that he believes they have understood this and that it is probably one reason why they reach out to China.

The U.S. Secretary Of State Antony Blinken stressed in Brussels, days after the Alaska meeting that Washington would not forcibly choose between Washington and Beijing.

According to an Asian diplomat, “everyone in the world is a bit anxious” as to where the U.S. and China relationship would go after Alaska.

Xi also found it sensible to tone down his rhetoric. He wants to make the most of important national events such as the Beijing Winter Olympics and the Communist Party Congress, where he will be able secure a third term.

According to Reuters, the diplomat stated that it was important not to disrupt either one of them. The diplomat said that you minimize conflict risks in the 12 important months of Xi Jinping’s domestic life.

Washington is accusing China of “genocide”, but Biden officials are refusing to heed calls from rights groups for a boycott.

Yet, despite the many disagreements, U.S. officials claim it’s wrong to expect a “thaw” in their relations.

Recent evidence from China’s nuclear program and work on hypersonic weapons has been raised by the administration. The Administration has also accused China, in an attempt to intimidate democracy Taiwan, of increasing military activities.

Nicholas Burns was Biden’s nominated ambassador to China. He called China Washington’s “most dangerous rival” and stated that the United States must work with its allies.

He said, “We have Chinese partners that believe in our country and we have Chinese partners who don’t.” I think President Biden tried to stress the importance of us being very closely aligned…(with) our treaty partners, our defense partners.”