Advertisement
Taiwan ‘most dangerous’ issue in China-US relations, Xi tells Biden in meeting
- The Chinese leader indicated Beijing is not preparing for an invasion of the island, a US official said after the meeting in California
- The two presidents held their first face-to-face encounter in a year on Wednesday, holding candid talks on range of issues
Reading Time:4 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
99+
Chinese President Xi Jinping has told his US counterpart Joe Biden to stop arming Taiwan and denied Beijing has imminent plans for military aggression, in a candid exchange on the “most dangerous” issue in the bilateral relationship.
Advertisement
During his four-hour meeting with Biden on Wednesday in California, Xi said Beijing’s preference was for peaceful reunification with Taiwan, but went on to talk about conditions in which force could be used, according to a senior US official.
Xi was trying to indicate that China is not preparing for a massive attack on Taiwan, but that does not change the US approach, the official said.
Advertisement
“President Xi … underscored that this was the biggest, most potentially dangerous issue in US-China relations, laid out clearly that … their preference was for peaceful reunification but then moved immediately to conditions that the potential use of force could be utilised.”
According to Chinese state news agency Xinhua, Xi reiterated Beijing’s position to Biden, saying “China will eventually be reunified and inevitably be reunified”. He also described Taiwan as the most important and sensitive issue in the relationship.
Advertisement