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
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
RSS