US President Joe Biden said on Sunday his country will maintain open communication lines and seek no conflicts with China, ahead of what are expected to be tense talks on a range of geopolitical issues at the G20 summit in Indonesia this week.

Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping are on Monday set to meet face-to-face for the first time since Biden took office, as bilateral relations languish at their worst in decades. JakeSullivan, a national security adviser to Biden, told reporters the meeting could last “a couple of hours”.

Xi Jinping. File picture

Biden, who landed in Bali island after meeting Southeast Asian and East Asian leaders in Cambodia, said the US would “compete vigorously” with Beijing while “ensuring competition does not veer into conflict”.

Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov also arrived in Bali from Cambodia earlier on Sunday.

The war in Ukraine and its economic fallout is expected to dominate discussions in Bali and at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)forum in Bangkok at the end of the week, alongside climate commitments, food insecurity and tensions over the TaiwanStrait, the South China Sea and North Korea.

Lavrov is representing President Vladimir Putin at the summits and is expected to hear stinging rebukes from within the G20 over the invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a special military operation.

Ukraine is not a G20 member but has been invited by host Indonesia as an observer. Its president, VolodymyrZelenskiy, will address the meeting virtually.