Joe Biden and Xi Jinping agree to resume high-level military communication
US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping have agreed to resume military communications at a summit designed to stabilise relations after several years of rising concern about a possible conflict over Taiwan, Financial Times reports.
At a press conference following his meeting with Xi outside San Francisco on Wednesday, Biden said the countries had reached a series of agreements, including a commitment from China to reopen military communication channels that it had shut after then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August 2022.
“We’re back to direct, open, clear . . . communication,” said Biden, adding that it marked “important progress” in US-China relations, which had descended to their lowest point since the countries established ties in 1979.
The two sides also agreed to set up a counter-narcotics working group. Beijing has said it will curb the export of chemicals used to make fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that has sparked a deadly drug epidemic in the US.
The leaders held roughly four hours of talks on Wednesday that included lunch in their second in-person summit since Biden took office in 2021. Asked by reporters how the talks went, Biden responded “well”, giving a thumbs-up gesture.
Biden said he had stressed to Xi the importance of “peace and stability” in the Taiwan Strait, but he sidestepped a question about whether he stood by his previous statements, made on four occasions, that he would order the US military to defend Taiwan from an attack by China.
He also declined to say whether Xi had clarified the circumstances under which China would invade Taiwan, which Beijing claims as part of its territory.
A senior US official said the leaders held a “substantial exchange” about Taiwan and that Xi had raised the fact that a number of US officials have mentioned specific timelines, such as 2027 or 2030, for China to invade Taiwan.
“There seemed to be a slight amount of exasperation in [Xi’s] comments,” the official said, adding that the Chinese president “basically said there are no such plans”.
General Charles Brown, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, has also downplayed the risk of Chinese military action, saying last week that he thought Xi “doesn’t actually want to take Taiwan by force” but would “try to use other ways”.
China’s official state news agency Xinhua said the sides also agreed to establish a dialogue on AI and increase the number of commercial flights between their countries. Xinhua said Xi told Biden that the US president’s recent executive order restricting investment into China and sanctions “seriously damaged China’s legitimate interests”.
