Biden-Xi Summit at Filoli: A Historic Mansion Meeting Sets Stage for Diplomatic Progress

U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping are seen shaking hands before their second face-to-face summit since taking office, held near San Francisco in Woodside, where the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting is taking place on November 15 (local time)./AFP·Yonhap News

The Filoli (also known as Bourn-Roth Estate), located in Woodside near San Francisco, where U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping held their second summit since taking office on November 15 (local time), is a historic preservation mansion that has often appeared in Hollywood films.

This mansion was built in 1917 by William Bowers Bourn II, one of California’s wealthiest gold mine owners during the Post Gold Rush era. It was later designated as a preservation site by the National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP), according to reports from the Associated Press and The San Francisco Standard (SFS).

U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping are holding their second expanded summit since taking office, near San Francisco in Woodside, where the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting is taking place on November 15 (local time)./AFP·Yonhap News

The estate is approximately 25 miles (40km) south of San Francisco. It is surrounded by a 54,000-square-foot (5,000 sqm) Georgian revival-style mansion, a 16-acre English Renaissance-style garden, a 6.8-acre orchard, and a one-mile-long walking trail on a 654-acre plot, according to the Associated Press.

In particular, this mansion is known for being the filming location for parts of the 1997 mystery thriller film The Game, starring Michael Douglas and directed by David Fincher, and several episodes of the primetime series Dynasty, which aired on ABC from 1981 to 1989. AP reported that it may be familiar to fans of 1980s TV dramas or Douglas films.

Although the mansion is typically open to the public, its website notices that “Filoli will be closed from November 13 to 15.”

The garden of the ‘Filoli Estate’ in Woodside near San Francisco, where U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping held their summit on November 15 (local time)./Screenshot from Filoli Estate homepage

The grounds of the ‘Filoli Estate’ in Woodside near San Francisco, where U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping held their summit on November 15 (local time)./Screenshot from Filoli Estate homepage

According to U.S. CBA broadcasting, Bonnie Glaser, director of the India-Pacific program at the German Marshall Fund, predicted that the location, being removed from the APEC conference site, will likely meet President Xi’s expectations for a private meeting with President Biden. This marks President Xi’s first visit to San Francisco since 1985, when he was the party secretary of Zhengding County, a rural area in Hebei Province.

In addition to the expanded summit, the meeting is expected to include a working lunch, a walk inside the estate, and small group meetings with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, as well as their Chinese counterparts, such as Wang Yi, the head of the Communist Party’s Central Foreign Affairs Office and Foreign Minister.

By. Ha Man Joo