President Joe Biden on Wednesday said he looks forward to discussing Taiwan, trade and other issues with Chinese President Xi Jinping at a possible meeting during his upcoming trip to Asia, and vowed not to make "fundamental concessions.
With no official announcement of a bilateral meeting, Biden said at a news conference that he wanted to work with Xi to "uncover our red lines" and understand his "critical interests." each other, and if so, how to solve it and how to solve it. President Joe Biden answers questions from reporters at the White House in Washington on November 9, 2022.
The Biden administration is seeking to regulate intensifying competition with China, which it describes as the "sole competitor," with intent and power to challenge the United States and the China-based international order to settle. Tensions over Taiwan have risen following U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to the self-governing democratic island in August, prompting China to respond with increased military activity. war.
China views Taiwan as a rogue province that must be reunited with the mainland, if necessary by force. Biden has repeatedly made statements pledging to defend Taiwan, which can be seen as a departure from Washington's longstanding position of maintaining so-called strategic ambiguity over the use of military force in response to a Chinese attack on Taiwan.
Biden said at Wednesday's news briefing that the "Taiwan Doctrine hasn't changed at all," apparently referring to America's only China. Policies recognizing Beijing as China's sole legal government. The United States moved diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, but maintains unofficial ties with Taiwan and supplies defense weapons under legislation passed by Congress that same year. Asked if he would personally tell Xi that the United States is committed to defending Taiwan, Biden said, "I'll have this conversation with him."
Biden is scheduled to leave Washington on Thursday for Egypt, Cambodia and Indonesia. Expectations are mounting that Biden will meet Xi on the sidelines of a Group of 20 major economies summit on the Indonesian island of Bali. The G-20 summit will take place for two days starting Tuesday. The talks, if fruitful, would be their first face-to-face meeting since Biden took office last January. Meanwhile, Biden said on Wednesday he had been told that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not be attending the G-20 meeting in.
The G-20 groups Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea and Turkey along with the Group of Seven economies: UK, Canada, France, Germany , Italy, Japan and the United States and the European Union.