Chinese, US presidents to discuss cooperation against IS: Report

Beijing: Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Barack Obama will discuss the fight against terrorism and cooperation against militants of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group at a summit in Beijing Nov 12, the South China Morning Post reported Wednesday.

Beijing and Washington are expected to set aside their differences to work towards greater cooperation in the exchange of information and to block financing and arms supplies to the IS, which controls large parts of Syria and Iraq, the daily said, citing analysts.

According to Bonnie Glaser, a senior advisor for Asia at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, China's foreign ministry has been in direct contact with the US State Department since June to analyse the fight against terrorism.

The last time the US and China held meetings of this kind was in 2001 when important differences between the two powers (over a US spy plane intercepted on the Chinese island of Hainan) were sidelined after the Sep 11 attacks.

The fact that China has reopened talks on terrorism with the US shows Beijing's concern about possible links that terrorist groups operating in the country might have with the IS, said Glaser.

The Ebola virus disease outbreak and cooperation in the field of climate change are expected to be other important points on the agenda of the two presidents, said Jin Canrong, a professor of international relations at Beijing's Renmin University.

The Chinese expert also pointed out that both sides will study measures to identify and cut IS's financing networks, a cooperation similar to the one established in the fight against "international terrorism" in 2001.