Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet with US President Joe Biden starting at 10:45am Wednesday Pacific time. The US side is giving a state visit-level reception for Xi.
The previously secret venue for the one-on-one meeting between presidents, on the sidelines of the summit of Asian-Pacific leaders, has as of Wednesday morning been disclosed as Filoli, a sprawling private estate located in Woodside, California – which lies about 25 miles south of San Francisco, seen below.
Filoli estate, via SCMP
The lush, quiet and secluded estate will be scene of an expected some 4 hours of talks between Xi and the 80-year old Biden.
As we've previewed, topics are likely to range from Biden's efforts to restore military-to-military communications, Taiwan tensions, managing economic competition, Ukraine, Gaza, and also reportedly Fentanyl at the forefront – to be pressed by the US side.
So far, it's the optics which have proven most controversial, from the moment senior officials – including Janet Yellen – were gathered at the airport to greet Xi's huge Air China jet on Tuesday. Biden had this to say going into Wednesday's crucial meeting, via APF:
Amazingly, here's a partial list and summary of the "no detail too small" preparations for Emperor President Xi's arrival:
Xi's motorcade flew past unusually pristine streets lined with students and supporters waiving Chinese flags, though there are reports of some sporadic protests popping up too:
Image via The San Francisco Standard: Chinese President Xi Jinping’s motorcade arrives at the St. Regis Hotel.
But here's the BEFORE…
Here's the AFTER… with the Chinese national anthem ringing out…
The rapid and almost miraculous clean-up of San Francisco streets comes after a series of demands made by Beijing:
And entire roads and intersections have been closed off for Xi's extensive security perimeter:
Given the planned Biden-Xi meeting is scheduled to run for four hours, it remains to be seen whether the US president will be able to stay alert, awake and coherent for such a lengthy high stakes session.