Biden Pivots East.docVIP

Biden Pivots East 　　U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has been scheduled to visit China in early December， followed by a trip to Japan and South Korea—both of which are U.S. allies in East Asia. 　　This will be Biden’s second visit to China as vice president. In his previous carefully planned visit in August 2011， he and then Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping， who has been Chinese president since March， spoke for over 10 hours on various topics including strategy， the economy， military， arts and culture， and sensitive international issues. The talks established good personal relations. Xi carried