(Bloomberg). The U.S. President Joe Biden will host a virtual summit next Wednesday with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, although no exact date has been given, according people who are familiar. 

The long-distance summit comes as ties between the world’s two largest economies have quietly improved in recent months, even as the nations spar over Taiwan and alarm grows in Washington over Beijing’s expanding nuclear arsenal. 

According to two sources familiar with this matter, the precise date for the summit is not yet set. The session won’t address the issue of whether the U.S. consulate in Chengdu and the Chinese consulate in Houston will reopen, one of the people added. In the midst of tit-for–tat fighting between Washington, Beijing, both buildings were closed in July 2013. 

White House and State Department spokespeople didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. 

White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre reiterated Monday that there’s “an agreement in principle” for a virtual meeting “before the end of the year.” 

“This is part of our ongoing efforts to responsibly manage the competition between our countries,” she told reporters, and is “not about seeking specific deliverables.”

The White House has previously said it wants to elevate talks to the leader level, in hopes that the two presidents can agree on guardrails for the relationship to ensure competition doesn’t veer into conflict.

Read more: China’s Politics Enter Turbulent Period as Xi Pushes for ControlThe virtual summit would follow two phone calls between Biden and Xi and various lower-level engagements that the U.S. said were disappointing and lacked serious engagement from Chinese officials. The virtual summit is almost six months since Biden’s in-person summit held in Geneva with Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

It would be held after the sixth plenum, a crucial meeting of Communist Party officials that took place in Beijing last week. The gathering should help Xi get a third term in office next year. 

Biden had many encounters with Xi over the years as vice president and was fondly proud of what he called his friendship with the Chinese leader. He gave a harsher assessment on the campaign trail last year, calling Xi a “thug” who “doesn’t have a democratic — with-a-small-‘d’ — bone in his body.”

Xi hasn’t left China in 21 months, as China continues to push ahead with a Covid-zero policy and as Xi prepares for an important Communist Party meeting scheduled for next year. Xi didn’t attend the recent meeting of Group of 20 leaders in Rome or climate talks in Glasgow. 

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