President Joe Biden said he expects to discuss issues including Taiwan and trade with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at a summit in Asia next week, but that he would make no “fundamental concessions” in their talks.
(Bloomberg) — President Joe Biden said he expects to discuss issues including Taiwan and trade with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at a summit in Asia next week, but that he would make no “fundamental concessions” in their talks.
Biden said he and Xi would meet at the Group of 20 summit in Indonesia, a highly anticipated encounter that comes at a low point in US-China relations.
“I’m not willing to make any fundamental concessions” in the talks, Biden said at a White House news conference on Wednesday. “I’m looking for competition not conflict.”
He added that he and Xi “will discuss a number of other issues including fair trade and relating to his relationship with other countries in the region.”
Asked about previous assurances Biden’s made to defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack, the president said he’s “going to have that conversation” with Xi.
“The Taiwan doctrine has not changed at all,” he said of US policy toward the self-governing island.
Biden has pledged repeatedly to defend Taiwan militarily in the event of an invasion. His aides have insisted those comments did not indicate a shift away from the longstanding One China policy or the strategic ambiguity that have governed the relationship for decades and maintained peace in the Taiwan Strait.
China has responded forcefully to the American president’s previous public pledges on defending the island and considers it meddling in its internal affairs.
“What I want to do with him when we talk is lay out what each of our red lines are — understand what he believes to be in the critical national interests of China, what I know to be the critical interests of the United States and determine whether or not they conflict with one another,” Biden said. “And if they do, how to resolve, and how to work it out.”
The meeting will be their first face-to-face encounter since Biden took office and the first time the two men will be speaking since their call last July. US officials have sought to lower expectations and stressed the conversation was necessary to ensure the relationship doesn’t veer into conflict.
Biden is heading into the meeting after the midterm elections, which were not the stinging rebuke some had predicted.
At the same time, the Chinese president has tightened his grip on China after securing a precedent-shattering third term as leader in October. Xi has pledged to reunify Taiwan with the mainland, by force if necessary, and said he would double down on his strict Zero-Covid policy that has caused China’s economy to slow down and Chinese citizens to protest.
The world’s two largest economies have long been in discord over trade, human rights and Taiwan but tensions reached a new high after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei in August and the US last month imposed curbs on semiconductor technology exports to China.
Biden will likely press Xi to take a stronger stand against Russian President Vladimir Putin and his war in Ukraine and raise concerns about China’s human rights violations and economic practices.
–With assistance from Jennifer Jacobs and Justin Sink.
(Updates with quotes and background throughout.)
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