Taipei, Nov. 16 (CNA) Taiwan’s government on Thursday thanked U.S. President Joe Biden for reiterating Washington’s commitment to maintaining the cross-strait status quo during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平).
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) spokesman Jeff Liu (劉永健) told reporters that the ministry “expresses its appreciation and sincere thanks to President Biden for again publicly declaring resolute U.S. support for the maintenance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”
Xi and Biden met for the first time in a year on Wednesday on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit held in California on Wednesday.
Citing a White House readout from the four-hour meeting, Liu said Biden reiterated that Washington “opposes any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side” and expected “cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.”
Biden also stated that “the world has an interest in peace and stability” and “called for restraint in the PRC’s use of military activity in and around the Taiwan Strait,” according to Liu.
As a responsible member of the Indo-Pacific region, Taiwan will continue to actively strengthen its self-defense capabilities and deepen its security partnership with the United States to jointly safeguard cross-strait peace and stability, ensure a free, open, and prosperous Indo-Pacific, and defend the rules-based international order, Liu said.
On Wednesday, Biden told a post-meeting press conference that “what I’ve said since I’ve become president, what every previous president of late has said, that we maintain the agreement that there is a ‘one China’ policy and that I’m not going to change that.”
Meanwhile, Xi was quoted by Chinese state-run Xinhua news agency that Xi said that China and the United States should manage disagreements and look for ways to build bridges.
It is important that Beijing and Washington appreciate each other’s principles and red lines and refrain from provocation, Xi said.
Speaking with Reuters, an unnamed U.S. senior official said Xi had told Biden that Taiwan was the “biggest, most dangerous issue in U.S.-China ties.”
The official quoted Xi as saying Beijing’s preference was for “peaceful reunification” between Taiwan and China but went on to talk about conditions in which force could be used, according to Reuters.
The official told Reuters that Xi was trying to indicate that China is not preparing for a massive invasion of Taiwan, but that does not change the U.S. approach.
Biden and Xi are in San Francisco to attend this year’s APEC Leaders Summit, which takes place from Nov. 16-17.
Wednesday’s meeting was the first between Xi and Biden since November 2022, when they met on the sidelines of the G20 meeting held in Indonesia.
