- Biden sits down with China’s Xi Jinping on Wednesday
- They will gather outside the packed downtown APEC site
- VOA reported they will meet at the Filoli estate
President Joe Biden plans to rely on some historic California luxury for his clutch meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, set to be held at an extravagant estate that might even impress a leader with no term limits on his rule.
Biden says he hopes his talks with his Chinese counterpart Wednesday will ‘change the relationship for the better,’ after a major spat over the Chinese spy balloon and concern about Beijing‘s close embrace of Moscow even amid Russia‘s brutal war on Ukraine.
After months of delicate diplomacy, the two men are set to meet on the Peninsula below San Francisco on a 654-acre estate, Voice of America reported.
The grounds of the Filoli estate include five ‘distinct ecosystems,’ trails, a fruit orchard, redwood groves, and natural springs – just the kind of lush setting that might entrance a world leader into backing away from corporate espionage, pondering an invasion of Taiwan, or dialing back import tariffs.
The Georgian revival-style mansion has a total of 54,000 square feet.
The home was built in 1917, and opened to the public in 1975.
Already, the U.S. and China have reportedly agreed to one incremental step, with Beijing vowing to cut down on fentanyl production that is poisoning Americans and contributing to social breakdown on San Francisco’s streets just blocks from the APEC summit underway.
The White House has kept a close lid on the summit site, with National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan only telling reporters Monday that it was to be held in the ‘Bay Area.’
The Filoli website says it is closed Nov. 13-15 ‘while we deck the halls for the Holidays!’
Its director of events, Helen Dubuc, on Tuesday denied a summit was set to be held there.
‘They are not coming here,’ she told DailyMail.com. ‘I would know: I’m the director of events.’
The facility features a 56-room mansion, and grounds with plenty of distance from protesters that have lined San Francisco streets and even erupted outside the White House and Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware home amid Israel’s war on Hamas.
It dates to 1917 and was built by mining and oil baron William Bourn and his wife Agnes. It features large oil paintings, Palladian windows, taxidermy, and a wood paneled room with an ornate fireplace.
It is now owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
But the landscape also features a symbol of tremor and collapse. Parts of the land run over the San Andreas Fault, where the American Plate has been grinding up against the Pacific Plate for millions of years, sometimes resulting in catastrophic earthquakes.
The Bourns made it through an earthquake during their first month after moving in, according to the site.
