WASHINGTON (AFP) – U.S.
President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping traded strong warnings on the future of Taiwan at a virtual summit meant to establish “guardrails” against conflict between their rival superpowers.
The video-link summit, which took place late Monday in Washington and early Tuesday in Beijing, lasted a “longer than expected” three and a half hours, a senior U.S. official told reporters. “The conversation was respectful and straightforward.”
While the goal was to settle an increasingly volatile relationship between the giant economic and geopolitical competitors, tension over Taiwan -- a self-governing island claimed by China -- loomed large.
Chinese state media reported after the summit that Xi cautioned Biden that encouraging Taiwanese independence would be “playing with fire.”
“Some people in the U.S. intend to ‘use Taiwan to control China.’ This trend is very dangerous and is like playing with fire, and those who play with fire will get burned,” he was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.
The White House readout after the summit reiterated longstanding U.S. policy that does not recognize Taiwan’s independence but supports defense of the island.
According to the U.S. official, who asked not to be identified, there was “extended discussion of Taiwan” during the summit.
The two leaders have spoken by phone twice since Biden’s inauguration in January but with Xi refusing to travel abroad because of the pandemic, an online video meeting was the only option short of an in-person summit.
The White House emphasized it did not expect -- or get -- any concrete changes out of the summit. Rather the goal was to build on earlier contacts with Xi to manage a relationship that is too big to fail.
Speaking from the White House to Xi on a television screen, Biden said it was their “responsibility as leaders of China and the United States to ensure that the competition between our countries does not veer into conflict, whether intended or unintended.”
“We need to establish some common sense guardrails,” he said.
Instead, the aim should be for “simple, straightforward competition,” Biden said, promising a “candid” discussion.
Xi, speaking from Beijing, called Biden “my old friend,” but said their countries had to work more closely.
“We face multiple challenges together. As the world’s two largest economies and permanent members of the UN Security Council, China and the United States need to increase communication and cooperation,” he said, speaking through an interpreter in brief public remarks, before they went behind closed doors.