Finance
According to a US official, Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping will meet on Thursday, their first meeting in four months, amid renewed tensions between Washington and Beijing over China’s claims on Taiwan.
The talks between the two leaders, the fifth in a series of regular check-ins, have been planned for weeks. However, the possibility of a visit to Taiwan by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat in Congress and the second in line to the presidency, has added new strain to the complicated relationship.
Beijing has warned that if Pelosi visits the self-ruled island of Taiwan, which China claims as part of its territory, it will take “forceful measures.”
The US official refused to be identified before the public announcement. The schedule was first reported by Bloomberg.
Pelosi has not confirmed plans to visit Taiwan, but Biden told reporters last week that it was “not a good idea” for the speaker to visit the island at the moment. Biden’s remarks came after the Financial Times reported last week that Pelosi planned to visit Taiwan in August, a trip she had planned to take in April but had to postpone due to a positive COVID-19 test.
The speaker has declined to comment on whether she intends to visit Taiwan, citing security precautions. However, she claimed that Biden’s remark was motivated by military brass being “afraid our plane would be shot down, or something like that, by the Chinese.” She would be the highest-ranking elected official from the United States to visit Taiwan since Republican Newt Gingrich visited the island in 1997 when he served as House speaker.
“It’s important for us to show support for Taiwan,” Pelosi said. “None of us have ever said we’re for independence when it comes to Taiwan. That’s up to Taiwan to decide.”
Administration officials have privately stressed to Pelosi that traveling to Taiwan could further complicate a delicate status quo.
Chinese officials aren’t mincing words, sending a message that a visit by Pelosi would be viewed as a change in U.S. policy and treated as a provocation.
“If the U.S. insists on going its own way, China will take forceful measures to resolutely respond and counter it, and we will do what we say,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin.
The U.S. has a longstanding commitment to the “One China” policy that recognizes Beijing as the government of China but allows informal relations and defense ties with Taipei. China has stepped up its military provocations against Taiwan in recent years, and there are fears that it’s trying to intimidate the island into accepting Beijing’s demands to unify with the communist mainland.
The talks between Biden and Xi could also include discussion of North Korea’s nuclear program, differences between Beijing and Washington over Russia’s war in Ukraine, efforts by the Biden administration to revive the Iran nuclear deal and the status of the U.S. administration’s review of tough tariffs imposed on China by the Trump administration.
“There are issues of tension in this relationship,” John Kirby, a national security spokesperson for the White House, said Tuesday. “But there’s also issues where we believe cooperation is not only possible, but mandatory, for instance on climate change, which affects us greatly.”
Long-simmering differences over Taiwan have come into intense focus in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion and ongoing efforts to annex swaths of eastern Ukraine.
As the U.S. scrambled to assemble a global coalition to hit the Russian economy with heavy sanctions following Vladimir Putin’s ordered invasion of Ukraine, Biden warned allies — particularly those in the Indo-Pacific — that Beijing would be watching closely how democracies responded as it considers its next steps on Taiwan.
Taiwan was a major topic of discussion during Biden and Xi’s most recent phone call in March, just three weeks after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.
Since Biden took office 18 months ago, China has repeatedly threatened to use force to assert its claim to Taiwan and has dispatched hundreds of sorties in Taiwanese airspace. The United States is legally obligated to ensure that the self-governing island democracy can defend itself, and threats to it are taken seriously.
The discussion comes as Biden’s national security and economic advisers near the end of a review of US tariff policy and prepare to make recommendations to the president.
Tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump imposed a 25% duty on billions of dollars of Chinese goods. The penalties were meant to reduce the U.S. trade deficit and force China to adopt fairer practices.
Source:HT
