Chinese President Xi Jinping bluntly told President Joe Biden during a recent summit in San Francisco that Beijing would reunite Taiwan with mainland China.
According to US officials, Xi told Biden at the group meeting that China preferred to take over Taiwan peacefully rather than by force. The Chinese leader also referred to public predictions by US military leaders who said Xi plans to seize Taiwan in 2025 or 2027.
However, he denied those predictions, saying he had not set a time frame, according to two current and one former official briefed on the meeting.
Chinese officials also requested ahead of the summit that Biden issue a public statement saying the United States supports China’s goal of peaceful unification with Taiwan and does not support Taiwanese independence. However, the White House rejected China’s request.
The private warning to Biden, while not much different from Xi’s past public comments on Taiwan reunification, caught the attention of US officials, because it came at a time when China’s conduct towards Taiwan is seen as increasingly aggressive.
Officials familiar with the conversation between Biden and Xi Jinping described the Chinese leader as sharp and outspoken, but not confrontational.
His language was no different than what he has always said. He is always tough on Taiwan. He’s always had a tough line.
At last year’s Chinese Communist Party Congress, Xi Jinping publicly stated that China would attack Taiwan militarily if it declared independence with foreign support. The Chinese leader said the threat of using force “is directed solely at interference by outside forces and the few separatists seeking” Taiwanese independence.
US officials said Xi Jinping expressed concern about candidates running for Taiwan’s presidency in next month’s election during a summit in San Francisco. Xi also noted the influence the United States had over Taiwan, they said.
CIA Director William Burns claimed earlier this year that US intelligence showed that Xi had ordered his armed forces to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027.
“Now, that does not mean that he’s decided to conduct an invasion in 2027, or any other year, but it’s a reminder of the seriousness of his focus and his ambition.”
As part of its long-standing One China policy, the US recognises Beijing as China’s sole legitimate government, but maintains unofficial relations with Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its territory. After the summit, Biden reaffirmed the longstanding US policy.
We maintain an agreement that there is a ‘One China’ policy. I’m not going to change that. That’s not going to change.
