Good morning. Here’s your Daily Situational Awareness for Monday, 14 November 2022.
GEOPOLITICS BRIEF
BIDEN, XI HOLD MEETING AT G20 SUMMIT: U.S. President Joe Biden is meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Indonesia this morning. The two are discussing Taiwan, North Korea, and bilateral relations between the U.S. and China. The meeting, which began at 0441 EST, is ongoing and in its third hour at the time of publication. White House advisors said over the weekend that Biden would stress to Xi that the U.S. does not seek military conflict with China over Taiwan or anywhere else in the East and South China Seas, and instead would like to return the relationship between the two countries back towards friendly competition. Ahead of the meeting, Xi released a series of counter statements regarding China’s willingness to focus on climate change, economic cooperation, and ending the war in Ukraine but stayed away from the Taiwan issue. – M.M.
SAUDI ARABIA TO HOST CHINA’S XI JINPING FOR TRADE AND SECURITY TALKS: Chinese President Xi Jinping is scheduled to meet with Saudi leaders in December to discuss strengthening trade ties and regional security, according to a statement by Saudi Minister of State and Foreign Affairs Adel Al-Jubeir over the weekend. Jubeir did not provide additional details on the meeting but said, “China is Saudi Arabia’s largest trading partner, we have huge investments in China, and the Chinese have huge investments in Saudi Arabia.” Jubeir stressed that the visit was merely standard trade and security talks and similar to diplomatic engagement with other European countries and the United States. – M.M.
CIA DIRECTOR IN TURKEY TO CONDUCT TALKS WITH RUSSIAN COUNTERPART: CIA Director William Burns is in Ankara, Turkey to hold talks with Russian officials, although the Biden administration said Burns is not negotiating in any way with the Russians. – M.S.
EL SALVADOR SNUBS TAIWAN, PIVOTS TO CHINA AFTER GRAIN AND FERTILIZER DONATION: Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele made a joint announcement with Chinese ambassador Ou Jianhong that El Salvador would begin talks with China to establish a new free trade pact. The announcement by the Salvadoran government comes as El Salvador’s Supreme Court upheld a decision to end a “free-trade agreement” with Taiwan. Afterward, the country received a donation of 1400 tons of fertilizer and 900 tons of wheat flour from the Chinese government. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian praised the move as proof “that standing up for the one-China principle is the right thing to do.” – R.P.
In today’s Early Warning, the team looks at the national security memo Biden just signed addressing threats to food in addition to several other domestic and global warnings. For this and the latest geopolitical indicators, get access to the full brief here: https://forwardobserver.com/subscribe