US President Joe Biden expressed concern about China’s “provocative actions” during a video call with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Friday, the White House said.
Biden and Xi mainly discussed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine during the nearly two-hour call.
Biden warned Xi of “implications and consequences” should China support Russia’s invasion, as Beijing had so far been reluctant to criticize the Kremlin and is suspected of providing assistance to Russia, the White House said.
Photo: REUTERS
Biden voice concern over Beijing’s “coercive and provocative actions” across the Taiwan Strait, a senior US administration official said during a news call after the bilateral talks.
Biden told Xi that the US continues to oppose any unilateral changes to the cross-strait “status quo,” a transcription issued by the White House showed.
Biden reiterated that the US is committed to its “one China” policy, and stressed the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, the official added.
Xi warned of a profound impact on China-US relations if Washington does not properly handle the “Taiwan question,” a separate transcription issued by the Chinese government showed.
Xi also accused “some people” in the US of “sending wrong signals to Taiwan’s independence forces,” the Chinese transcription showed.
Asked if Biden responded to Xi’s accusation, the senior official said: “Biden’s response was about just reaffirming our continued, consistent policy — very long-standing policy — while underscoring concerns about Beijing’s coercive and provocative actions across the Strait.”
“The Biden administration has consistently demonstrated rock-solid support for Taiwan and will continue to do so,” the official added.
In Taipei, the Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US for emphasizing security in the Strait and its support for Taiwan.
The nation would continue to work closely with the US and other like-minded countries, the office said in a statement.
Maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the Indo-Pacific region is the responsibility of all regional stakeholders, office spokesman Xavier Chang (張惇涵) said, urging China to shoulder its responsibility.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said Biden’s remarks highlighted the common ground between Taiwan and the US with regard to cross-strait peace and stability.
“We urge China to stop the hostile actions and provocations in the Taiwan Strait, as well as to end the ‘united front’ tactics against Taiwan,” the DPP said in a news statement.
“A complete change is needed in China’s attitude toward dealing with cross-strait relations. China should take up the goodwill shown by Taiwan to engage in dialogue on an equal footing to enable healthy cross-strait development,” it added.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Department of International Affairs head Alexander Huang (黃介正) wrote on Facebook: “The US has stated its position on cross-strait relations, which basically meant to ‘stay on the road, do not run red lights and do not bump into the guardrails.’”
While Taiwanese should have confidence that there is no change in Washington’s policy toward the nation, “we also need to have a clear awareness,” he said. “Ditch illusion and face reality.”
Additional reporting by Lee Hsin-fang and Shih Hsiao-kuang
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