The American president confirmed on Wednesday that he would raise the very sensitive issue of Taiwan with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.
US President Joe Biden expressed on Wednesday November 9 his wish to discuss with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping mutual “red lines” not to be crossed, during the summit of G20 heads of state scheduled for mid-November. “What I want to do with him when we talk is figure out what kind of red lines we have to respect”said the Democratic leader at a press conference in Washington.
Joe Biden said he wanted to study the existence of a possible conflict between “what he (Xi Jinping) considers it to be critical national interests of China (and) what I know to be the critical national interests of the United States.” The American president said he was ready to work towards the resolution of such a conflict, while relations between Beijing and Washington have recently become strained and deteriorated.
The tenant of the White House is going to Asia this weekend, first to an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Phnom Penh, then to a G20 meeting in Bali and finally at the Asia-Pacific Cooperation Forum (Apec) in Bangkok. These will be strategic meetings for the United States, which has identified China as its “only rival” in the long term and are trying to rally to their cause countries, particularly in Southeast Asia, which are reluctant to oppose Beijing.
“The doctrine on Taiwan has not changed at all”
The American president confirmed on Wednesday that he would raise the very sensitive issue of Taiwan with Xi Jinping. “The doctrine on Taiwan has not changed at all”, repeated Joe Biden again, avoiding to rephrase previous remarks which had irritated Beijing, according to which the American army would defend Taiwan if the island was attacked. Xi Jinping won a third term at the Chinese Communist Party Congress last month, cementing his status as the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Tse-tung. This raises fears in Taiwan, but also in Washington, that China will redouble its efforts to obtain its reunification with the island. Washington historically maintains a policy of“strategic ambiguity” about possible US military intervention if Taiwan were attacked by China.
The People’s Republic of China considers Taiwan to be one of its provinces, which it has yet to successfully reunify with the rest of its territory since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949.