China's President Xi Jinping reportedly promised his United States (U.S.) counterpart Joe Biden that China will not interfere in the 2024 U.S. elections.

Assurance and reassurances

CNN reported that Xi made Biden the promise in San Francisco in November 2023, citing two unnamed sources.

The meeting was the first time in almost a year that the pair met face-to-face.

Communication between both countries broke down in 2022 when then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan against the express wishes of China's government.

A source told CNN that Biden was the one who raised the topic to Xi, and the exchange between both presidents was brief.

Despite Xi's assurance, the possibility of China interfering in the upcoming U.S. elections seems to be weighing heavily on the minds of U.S. government officials.

The topic came up once more in Bangkok, where U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met with Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi for more than 12 hours on Jan. 26 and 27, 2024.

Wang reportedly echoed Xi's promise to Biden when Sullivan brought up the topic and assured that China would not interfere in the U.S. election, CNN reported a source saying.

Both countries have described the talks as a "strategic channel of communication".

U.S. concerned

Sullivan is not the only one concerned.

Reuters reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and U.S. Justice Department obtained and employed a court order on Jan. 29 to disable some aspects of a Chinese hacking operation.

This was part of their months-long operation to fight the "pervasive" operation Chinese hacking operation that had successfully compromised thousands of internet-connected devices.

Reuters further reported that the Biden administration has increasingly focused on hacking, for fear of foreign influence in the upcoming U.S. election and of the infiltrating and compromising of critical Western infrastructure.

Foreign interference in U.S. elections grabbed headlines in 2016, when Russian intelligence agencies hacked the Democratic National Committee and released emails that were detrimental to Hillary Clinton's campaign.

Relations still chilly

Whether Beijing makes good on its promise, and how the U.S. election will pan out, remain to be seen.

However, one thing is certain at the moment: China-U.S. relations continue to remain fraught.

That said, the doors to communication between both leaders appear to remain wide open based on their congratulatory messages to the other on Jan. 1, 2024, on the 45th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

Referring to the November 2023 meeting in San Francisco with Biden, Xi said it opened up the future and showed the direction for the development of China-U.S. relations.

He also appeared to stress his willingness to cooperate with the U.S., the South China Morning Post reported.

Similarly, Biden staked his commitment to "responsibly" manage the "important relationship". He added that he looks forward to advancing and extending bilateral relationships.

Biden and Xi are set to have a call sometime during the spring season, VOA reported.

Setting up the call between both leaders was reportedly one of the agendas during Wang and Sullivan's meeting in Bangkok.

2024 U.S. election

The U.S. election is set to take place on Nov. 5, 2024.

While the primaries and caucus are still ongoing (with the next happening in Nevada on Feb. 6 and 8), and the Democratic and Republican parties have yet to officially confirm their nominee for president, the contest looks set to be between the incumbent Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump.

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Top image from @POTUS/X, formerly Twitter