Chinese President Xi Jinping warned President Biden last month that he intends to end Taiwan’s decades of de facto independence, peacefully if possible.
Xi told the 81-year-old commander in chief that “Beijing will reunify Taiwan with mainland China, but the timing has not yet been decided,” NBC News reported Wednesday, citing three current and former U.S. officials briefed on the meeting.
The White House did not deny the exchange, which occurred during a Nov. 15 summit outside San Francisco attended by a dozen U.S. and Chinese officials.
“I’m not going to get into the details of the discussion between the two leaders,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Air Force One en route to Milwaukee. “I think you can understand that I’m not going to read that private conversation.”
“President Xi has been public and clear about his desire for reunification; that is not something new or different,” Kirby added.
“Beijing will reunify Taiwan with mainland China, but the timing has not yet been decided,” Xi said. REUTERS
The White House spokesman went on to say that the United States will continue to adhere to its “One China” policy of not recognizing Taiwan as independent, adding that “as the president has said, there is no reason for this to come to blows.”
At the summit, Xi said that “China’s preference is to take Taiwan peacefully, not by force,” and asserted that “US military leaders who say Xi plans to take Taiwan in 2025 or 2027… were wrong because he has not set a time frame,” NBC reported.
China’s so-called “president for life” and Biden met for four hours and American readouts of the talks did not mention any notable updates regarding Taiwan, which has been autonomous since the 1949 victory of Mao Zedong’s communists in the civil war. China. war.
Biden said last year that US troops would defend Taiwan if it were threatened by Beijing.
Xi Jinping said China plans to take back Taiwan. Via REUTERS
Taiwan, which has a population of more than 23 million, began a process of democratization in the late 1980s after decades of rapid economic growth. Its current president, Tsai Ing-wen, has angered Beijing by claiming that the island, mostly populated by Chinese, is already independent.
Taiwan has been ruled by Beijing for only part of its history. It was previously ruled by Japan for 50 years (1895 to 1945) after approximately two centuries of control by China.
Xi’s government has pursued an expansionist foreign policy, including asserting ownership of disputed islands in the South China Sea and ending Hong Kong’s political autonomy in 2020, despite assurances in 1997 that the former British colony would have 50 years of self-government.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Taiwan’s current president, Tsai Ing-wen, has angered Beijing by claiming that the island, mostly populated by Chinese, is already independent. fake images
US-China relations are a major issue in next year’s presidential election, with Republicans arguing that Biden is not tough enough on issues such as fentanyl exports, which have led to a record number of drug overdose deaths. in United States.
Biden critics point out that his son Hunter and brother James Biden received millions of dollars as part of a pair of business ventures with entities linked to the Chinese state from 2013 to 2021. Joe Biden’s meetings with associates from both associations are a focus important of a House impeachment inquiry.
Former President Donald Trump, seeking a rematch against Biden, claimed in August that Biden “was bribed and is now being blackmailed” by China, while House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told The Post last month that Biden was “soft” on Beijing and that “it probably has something to do with trade relations and may very well involve Hunter and James Biden and some of the deals they made there.”
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Source: vtt.edu.vn