Chinese President warns Biden for “playing with fire” as both nations stay adamant over Taiwan. Amid escalating tensions between the two nations over several issues, most recently, the potential future visit of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan, US President Joe Biden and China’s President Xi Jinping met on the phone on Thursday.
In a phone chat on Thursday, both presidents generally avoided using escalating language over Taiwan, signaling that neither side, already consumed with domestic economic problems, wants a new conflict out across Taiwan Strait.
There were concerns that a new Taiwan crisis may break out, adding to the existing list of conflicts on issues like trade, technology, and the South China Sea.
This week, China increased its cautions on Nancy Pelosi’s planned travel and warned that the United States would be responsible for all consequences.
It is anticipated that Mr. Biden will argue that the American President cannot veto a visit from a House Speaker who represents another arm of government. For his part, Mr. Xi might ask Mr. Biden to reiterate his Government’s adherence to its “One China” policy.
China hasn’t ruled out the possibility of using force to annex Taiwan since it sees it as a separatist province that must reunite with the rest of the nation.
The one-China policy prevents Washington from diplomatically recognizing Taipei. However, the US provides the democratically self-governing island with weaponry so that it may defend itself.
The three portions of the conversation, which lasted for more than two hours, included one on Taiwan. The other discussions mostly concerned the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and potential areas of US-China collaboration.
The White House reported that in addition to Taiwan, the two leaders also spoke about a number of other topics, such as climate change and health security.
The pair spoke on Thursday for the first time since March and for the fifth time since Mr. Biden came into office.
The White House intends to cooperate where “interests align” and “responsibly manage differences.”
Beijing claimed that in a much longer one, several of their interests did coincide. But it pointed the finger at the US, slamming the Biden administration’s perception of China as Washington’s “most severe long-term challenge” and its “main opponent.”
The Biden government has been debating whether to remove tariffs imposed on Chinese imports under Trump, believing that doing so would help to lower the US’s skyrocketing inflation. However, that topic was not brought up by the US president on Thursday.
