Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) last year asked US President Joe Biden to change the language the US uses when discussing its position on Taiwanese independence, according to two US officials familiar with the private conversation.
During a Biden-Xi meeting in November last year near San Francisco, Xi and his aides asked Biden and his team to tweak the language in US official statements.
China wanted the US to say “we oppose Taiwan independence,” rather than the current version, which is that the US “does not support” independence for Taiwan, said the people, who requested anonymity to speak about private diplomatic exchanges they participated in or were briefed on.
Photo: Reuters
Xi’s aides have repeatedly followed up and made the requests in the months since, according to two US officials and another person familiar with the exchanges.
The US has declined to make the change.
The White House responded to a request for comment with a statement that repeated the line that Washington “does not support Taiwan independence.”
“The Biden-[US Vice President Kamala] Harris administration has been consistent on our long-standing one China policy,” the statement read.
“You should ask this question to the US government. China’s position on the Taiwan issue is clear and consistent,” the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
In Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs declined to comment.
For several years, Chinese diplomats have pushed the US to make changes to how it refers to Taiwan’s status.
The unusually direct and renewed push at the leader level has not been reported previously.
It was not clear why Xi raised the issue with Biden, but he has made opposition to Taiwanese independence a focus of his time in office and China’s military has significantly ramped up its activities around the nation in the past few years.
The Biden administration regards the proposed language change as a non-starter.
Taiwan was briefed on the recent overtures at a high level by Washington, one of the sources said.
Leaders in Beijing “would love it if Joe Biden said very different things about Taiwan than he says, no doubt,” said one senior Biden administration official, adding that Biden would stick with the standard US formulation for talking about Taiwanese independence.
During his time in office, Biden has upset the Chinese government with comments that appeared to suggest the US would defend the nation if it were attacked, a deviation from a long-held US position of “strategic ambiguity.”
A change by Washington to say that it opposes Taiwanese independence would reverberate through the trade-rich Asia-Pacific region, and with US partners, competitors and adversaries alike.
Officials from two governments in the region told reporters that they would interpret any such change in wording as a change in US policy toward less support for Taipei’s defense and diplomatic aspirations at a time when Beijing has ramped up military pressure.
Any switch in language could also be seen signaling a shift in US policy from supporting the resolution of Taiwan’s future through peaceful talks to one suggesting that the US stands against Taiwanese aspirations regardless of the circumstances.
In 2022, the US Department of State changed its Web site on Taiwan, removing wording on not supporting Taiwanese independence and on acknowledging Beijing’s position that “Taiwan is part of China.”
It later restored the language on not supporting independence for Taiwan.
The two leaders are expected to speak again before Biden’s term in office ends in January, talks that might come by phone or on the sidelines of next month’s G20 summit in Brazil or APEC summit in Peru.
APEC is one of few international forums where Taiwan and China take part.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about