White House confirms Sept. 25 Xi visit

by Jordan Fabian - 09/15/15 8:01 PM ET

President Obama will hold a long-awaited meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sept. 25, the White House announced Tuesday.

The White House confirmed the date of Xi’s state visit amid speculation the Chinese might scuttle the president’ trip to Washington amid tensions over cyberattacks.

“President Xi’s visit will present an opportunity to expand U.S.-China cooperation on a range of global, regional, and bilateral issues of mutual interest, while also enabling President Obama and President Xi to address areas of disagreement constructively,” press secretary Josh Earnest said in a statement.

{mosads}Following their meeting, Obama will host Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, for a state dinner at the White House.

Despite the pomp and circumstance afforded to China’s leader, the U.S.-China relationship has become increasingly strained over massive cyber hacks and military maneuvers in the contested South China Sea.

The White House is reportedly weighing economic sanctions against Chinese interests responsible for hacking U.S. firms, but those penalties are not expected to be announced before Xi’s visit.

Chinese hackers have been accused of stealing corporate secrets from U.S. businesses and of infiltrating the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which compromised sensitive information belonging to more than 22 million people.

The White House has declined to publicly name China in the OPM hack but has said Obama plans to raise U.S. concerns over cyberattacks with Xi.

“We’ve made very clear to the Chinese that there are certain practices that they’re engaging in that we know are emanating from China and are not acceptable,” Obama said last Friday at Fort Meade.

“We can choose to make this an area of competition, which I guarantee you we’ll win if we have to,” he added. “Or, alternatively, we can come to an agreement in which we say, this isn’t helping anybody; let’s instead try to have some basic rules of the road in terms of how we operate.”

U.S. officials have expressed worry about China’s maneuvers to claim land in the South China Sea, where half a dozen Asian nations have long engaged in territorial disputes.

New satellite images show China has apparently constructed a third airstrip in contested waters, which could raise another point of contention between Xi and Obama.

Despite those tiffs, U.S. and China continue to share extensive trade and investment ties. The Obama administration also views China as a crucial partner in its drive to secure a global climate agreement later this year.

Dozens of American and Chinese municipalities announced this week they would take steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a prelude to the United Nations climate conference in Paris this winter.

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