US warns China of pressure on Taiwan ahead of Biden-Xi summit.
President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will hold a virtual summit on Monday.
The United States warned China about its pressure on Taiwan, the State Department said on Saturday as the two powers prepare for a much-anticipated summit.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and “expressed concern about the continued military, diplomatic and economic pressure from the People’s Republic of China against Taiwan,” the department said in a statement.
President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will hold a virtual summit on Monday night at Washington time.
Blinken and Wang spoke on Friday to discuss preparations for the summit, with the secretary reported as “urging Beijing to engage in meaningful dialogue to resolve cross-strait issues peacefully and consistent with the wishes and best interests of the people. from Taiwan.
Relations between the world’s two largest economies have deteriorated, partly because of Taiwan, an autonomous democracy claimed by Beijing, but also because of trade, human rights, and other issues.
Last month, China’s military carried out a record number of sorties into the island’s air defense zone.
Washington has repeatedly voiced its support for Taiwan in the face of what it has described as Chinese aggression.
The State Department said Monday’s summit “presents an opportunity for the two leaders to discuss how to responsibly handle competition between the United States and the People’s Republic of China while working together in areas where interests align.”
Biden and Xi have spoken by phone twice since the veteran Democrat moved into the White House. The couple also knew each other extensively when Biden was Barack Obama’s vice president and Xi was Hu Jintao’s vice president.
Biden had hoped to meet Xi at a recent G20 summit in Rome, but the Chinese leader has not traveled since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and instead agreed to hold virtual talks before the end of the year.
“I have repeatedly pointed out, over the past 10 months, that the relationship with China is among the most important and also most complex that we have,” Blinken said on Friday.
“It has different elements: some cooperative, some competitive and some contradictory, and we will manage all three at the same time.”
Biden has largely maintained the tougher focus on Beijing of his predecessor Donald Trump, with both administrations seeing a rising China as the main challenge of the 21st century.
On Thursday, Xi warned against a return to the divisions of the Cold War era, speaking to a virtual business conference on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
“Attempts to draw ideological lines or form small circles on geopolitical grounds are destined to fail,” he said.
“The Asia-Pacific region cannot and must not fall back into the confrontation and division of the Cold War era.”