‘US doesn’t support Taiwan independence’: Biden
Prospects for war have dimmed for now, but a new world order looks inevitable amid Xi’s unprecedented warning
Xi Jinping threatened the US over support to Taiwan, said don't play with fire
The US has bowed down to China’s threats over Taiwan, with US President Joe Biden stating that the US respects the One-China principle and that it does not support Taiwan independence.
China’s state media Xinhua reported that in a phone call with China’s lifetime President Xi Jinping on 28 July 2022, Biden said that the One-China policy of the US has not changed and will not change, and that the US does not support “Taiwan independence”.
Things had heated up a few days ago (and much before; read Snowball: Can Xi do a Putin? – MDDTimes) with Nancy Patricia Pelosi, the speaker of the US House of Representatives, stating that she plans to visit Taiwan. This followed China officially stating that the US will have to “bear consequences” if this happens. While the Pentagon supported Pelosi, Biden suddenly said that Pelosi’s visit wasn’t a good idea and subsequently Biden was hospitalised due to Covid infection. It was only on 27 July that doctors said Biden had recovered and the call was on 28 July.
In the phone call requested by Biden, Xi said faced with a world of change and disorder, the international community and the people around the world expect China and the US to take the lead in upholding world peace and security and in promoting global development and prosperity. This is the responsibility of China and the US as two major countries, he said.
Xi added the most serious long-term challenge would be misperceiving China-US relations and misreading China’s development, Xinhua reported.
China has been suffering great loss since former US president Donald Trump placed curbs on China imports and several countries started looking at alternative supply-chains following the Covid disruption. Xi told Biden that attempts at decoupling or severing supply-chains in defiance of underlying laws would not help boost the US economy.
Xi also threatened that both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one and the same China. “`The will of the [Chinese] people cannot be defied and those who play with fire will perish by it, he said, adding that it is hoped that the US will be clear-eyed about this.
This is a marked escalation in tone that has perhaps never been recorded in US history.
Separately, following former PM of Japan Shinzo Abe’s assassination, there are reports (read Exclusive interview with Jennifer Zeng: Why CCP might have killed Abe and war plans of China – MDDTimes) that China may be targeting several Taiwan officials next. A cancellation of any visit to Taiwan (which has already happened) would only embolden China in its plan to invade Taiwan and change the world order.
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