Joe Biden shook hands with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Indonesia on Monday, seeking common ground over the issue of Taiwan and pledging cooperation on climate policies.
The US president once again insisted he was not changing Washington’s long-standing ‘One China’ policy, even though he has repeatedly promised to defend Taiwan if it were attacked. He also sought to lower tensions by saying that such a situation was unlikely.
Their first in-person meeting since Mr Biden came to power took place on the sidelines of the G20 gathering in Bali, Indonesia. The president told reporters he had been “open and candid” with Mr Xi about a range of matters on which Beijing and Washington disagree.
“I think we understand each other,” Mr Biden said.
According to a White House readout of the meeting: “On Taiwan, he laid out in detail that our One China policy has not changed, the United States opposes any unilateral changes to the status quo by either side, and the world has an interest in the maintenance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.
“He raised US objections to the PRC’s coercive and increasingly aggressive actions toward Taiwan, which undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and in the broader region, and jeopardise global prosperity.”
It comes as US-China tensions have simmered in recent months, thanks in part to the dispute over China’s posture towards Taiwan.
House speaker Nancy Pelosi recently led a delegation to the island to meet with government officials, further exacerbating the Chinese indignation regarding US support for Taiwan.
Beijing, which claims to own Taiwan, has long asserted its wish to bring the island under its control, and has not ruled out the use of force to do so. Taiwan’s democratically elected government strongly objects to China’s sovereignty claims, and says that only the island’s 23 million people can decide its future.
The US frequently attempts to assert its military and naval dominance in the region via the use of strategic patrols through the Taiwan Strait; these exercises typically draw condemnation from the Chinese government, but little or no concrete action.
US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen told reporters in Bali on Monday that the leaders’ meeting aimed to stabilise their relationship and to create a “more certain atmosphere” for American businesses.
She said President Biden had been clear with China about national security concerns regarding restrictions on sensitive US technologies, and had raised concerns about the reliability of Chinese supply chains for commodities.
