BEIJING (Dispatches) - Chinese President Xi Jinping has said that anyone who expects China to make concessions on the Taiwan issue is thinking unrealistically.

“The Taiwan issue is at the center of China’s key interests, the Chinese government and the Chinese people will never agree with those who speculate around the one China principle. Anyone who expects China to make concessions on the Taiwan issue is thinking unrealistically,” Xi was quoted as saying by Chinese TV channel during a meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

This statement comes shortly after a meeting between U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in United States. The representative of Beijing stressed that such summits contradict one-China principle.

 

Taiwan has been governed independently from mainland China since 1949. Beijing views the island as its province, while Taiwan — a territory with its own elected government — maintains that it is an autonomous country but stops short of declaring independence.

Beijing opposes any official contacts of foreign states with Taipei and considers Chinese sovereignty over the island as indisputable. To date, Taiwan is recognized by 13 countries.

 

 China Deploys Warships, Aircraft Near Taiwan for Second Day

 

China has deployed warships and aircraft near Taiwan for a second day, Taiwanese officials said on Friday, as tensions mount between Beijing and the self-ruled island over a meeting between President Tsai Ing-wen and U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Three Chinese warships transited in waters surrounding the island territory on Friday, while a fighter jet and an anti-submarine helicopter also crossed Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, Chinese Taipei’s defense ministry said in a statement.

Earlier in the week, China’s Shandong aircraft carrier sailed through Taiwan’s southeastern waters on its way to the western Pacific on Wednesday, hours prior to a meeting in Los Angeles between Tsai Ing-wen and McCarthy.

“China firmly opposes and strongly condemns the acts,” China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said, according to the official state news agency.

“In response to the seriously erroneous acts of collusion between the United States and Taiwan, China will take resolute and effective measures to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

On Thursday, Xi Jinping welcome French President Emmanuel Macron, which some analysts see Beijing’s growing offensive to woo key allies within the European Union to counter the United States.

The two leaders visited southern China together on Friday, capital of the economic and manufacturing powerhouse of Guangdong province.

Such forays by Xi with visiting leaders are rare. Diplomats say it underlines the importance Beijing attaches to this relationship with a key member of the EU as it looks for support against what Xi has called “all-round containment, encirclement and suppression” by the U.S.

“All Chinese foreign policy offensives have the U.S.-China relationship in the background...so to work with any country, especially mid or big powers, like France, is something they’ll try to do to counter the U.S.” said Zhao Suisheng, a professor of China studies and foreign policy at the University of Denver.

Noah Barkin, an analyst with the Rhodium Group, said China’s chief objective was to prevent Europe from aligning more closely with the United States.

Macron travelled to China with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, both pressuring China on Ukraine, but failing to wrest any public shifts in position from Xi.