Xi Jinping and Joe Biden had two hours of ‘sincere and thorough’ talks on Thursday, during which the Chinese president warned his American counterpart not to ‘play with fire’ over Taiwan, according to state media. Chinese.
“Those who play with fire end up getting burned,” warned the Chinese president, while Beijing has been threatening for several days “consequences” if the head of the American deputies Nancy Pelosi carries out her plan to visit Taiwan.
“Honest and in-depth interview”
“I hope the US side fully understands this,” added Xi, quoted by the Xinhua News Agency. According to this state agency, “the two presidents considered that their telephone conversation had been sincere and thorough”.
The White House said the phone call, the fifth virtual summit between the two officials since Biden became president a year and a half ago, began at 8:33 a.m. local time (12:33 p.m. GMT) and lasted more than two o’clock.
“Aggressive and coercive behavior of China”
Beijing and Washington were already at odds over trade. The two world powers now oppose each other because of Taiwan. China considers the island, with a population of 24 million, to be one of its historic provinces that it has yet to reunite with the rest of the country.
Opposed to any initiative that would give the Taiwanese authorities international legitimacy, Beijing is against any official contact between Taiwan and other states, and therefore against the potential visit of Nancy Pelosi.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said before the call that “tensions around China’s aggressive and coercive behavior in the Indo-Pacific would be on the agenda.” — a term used in particular by the United States to designate the changing reality of alliances in the Asia-Pacific region.