Biden, Xi clash on Taiwan but try to ‘manage’ differences

NUSA DUA (AP):

United States President Joe Biden objected to China’s “coercive and increasingly aggressive actions” towards Taiwan during the first in-person meeting of his presidency with Xi Jinping, as the two superpower leaders on Monday aimed to “manage” their differences in the competition for global influence.

The nearly three-hour meeting was the highlight of Biden’s weeklong, round-the-world trip to Asia, and came at a critical juncture for the two countries amid increasing economic and security tensions. Speaking at a news conference afterward, Biden said that when it comes to China, the US would “compete vigorously, but I’m not looking for conflict”.

He added: “I absolutely believe there need not be a new Cold War” with the rising Asian power.

Biden reiterated US support for its long-standing ‘One China policy, which recognises the government in Beijing while allowing for informal US relations and defence ties with Taipei, and “strategic ambiguity” over whether the US would respond militarily if the island were attacked. He also said that despite China’s recent saber-rattling, he does not believe “there’s any imminent attempt on the part of China to invade Taiwan”.

Xi, according to the Chinese government’s account of the meeting, “stressed that the Taiwan question is at the very core of China’s core interests, the bedrock of the political foundation of China-US relations, and the first red line that must not be crossed in China-US relations”.

Biden said he and Xi also discussed Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and “reaffirmed our shared belief” that the threat or the use of nuclear weapons is “totally unacceptable”. That was a reference to Moscow’s thinly veiled threats to use atomic weapons as its nearly nine-month invasion of Ukraine has faltered.

While there were no watershed breakthroughs, the meeting brought each side long-sought, if modest, victories. In addition to the oblique condemnation of Russian nuclear threats, Biden appeared to secure from Xi the resumption of lower-level cooperation from China on a range of shared global challenges. Meanwhile, Xi, who has aimed to establish China as a geopolitical peer of the US, got symbolic home turf for the meeting, and Biden’s forceful ‘One China’ policy commitment.

The White House said Biden and Xi agreed to “empower key senior officials” on areas of potential cooperation, including tackling climate change and maintaining global financial, health and food stability. Beijing cut off contact with the US in protest of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan in August. China and the US are the world’s worst climate polluters, and their one-on-one climate contacts are seen as vital to staving off some of the most dire scenarios of climate change.

The two leaders agreed to have US Secretary of State Antony Blinken travel to Beijing to continue the discussions.