President Joe Biden could be more reliant on a translator to filter out any "gaffes" during key talks.
Intelligence analyst Kervin AuCoin said the President is likely to rely on his team and avoid extended one-on-one talks with Xi Jinping.
The President is meeting China's leader for talks which are meant to lower tensions between the two global powers.
President Biden is known to be gaffe prone, raising the possibility of accidentally offending the Chinese leader.
The 80 year old President is set to meet the Chinese leader
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According to AuCoin, the talks are likely to be "highly scripted".
He added that it is unlikely that the two leaders will have private face to face meetings during the trip.
AuCoin said: "It is unlikely that the two leaders will hold one-on-one closed-door meetings, as both will require a translator who can hopefully filter out some of President Biden’s gaffes before they are translated.
"It is worth noting that President Biden has performed well when he has had time to focus on a particular event."
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President Xi Jinping
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The geopolitical analyst pointed to Biden's debate performances against Donald Trump.
The talks in San Francisco came amid rising tensions between the US and China.
Relations between the two global superpowers have been soured recently as a result of economic competition and standoffs in the South China Sea.
However, both leaders want to make clear they are not locked in a winner-takes-all face-off with global implications.
Biden wants to keep open lines of communication to prevent misunderstandings that could lead to direct conflict between the two powers.
The 80 year old president is also focused on managing the countries’ increasingly fierce economic competition.
Xi is believed to be keen to show the US that China is still a good place to invest.
The Chinese leader is also looking for assurance that the US will not support Taiwan's independence, start a new cold war or suppress China’s economic growth.