Xi-Biden meeting: Taiwan top of agenda for Chinese and US leaders - BBC

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File photograph  of xi and BidenImage source, Getty Images

Image caption,

Mr Biden had met Mr Xi successful idiosyncratic previously, erstwhile helium was the US vice-president

By Yvette Tan & Tessa Wong

BBC News

Taiwan is expected to apical the docket erstwhile US President Joe Biden and Chinese person Xi Jinping conscionable adjacent week - their archetypal in-person brushwood since Mr Biden took bureau successful 2020.

The much-awaited gathering comes astatine a clip erstwhile relations betwixt the 2 superpowers person peculiarly soured.

This has been fuelled by Beijing's claims implicit self-ruled Taiwan and its expanding assertiveness successful Asia.

The US has responded by restricting entree to machine spot technology.

That has deed China's export-driven system which uses the tech to marque and merchantability everything from phones to electrical cars.

Given the caller spike successful tensions and rhetoric, the satellite - and America's Asian allies specified India, Japan and Australia - volition beryllium intimately watching the gathering scheduled to instrumentality spot connected Monday successful Bali up of the G20 Summit.

Mr Xi has spent astir of the pandemic successful China and lone precocious began travelling overseas again.

"I'm definite we'll sermon Taiwan... and what I privation to bash with him erstwhile we speech is laic out... what each of our reddish lines are," Mr Biden said astatine a property league connected Thursday aft the White House confirmed the meeting.

This mode they tin "determine whether oregon not they struggle with 1 another… and if they do, however to resoluteness and however to enactment it out", helium said. However, helium besides added that helium was not consenting to "make immoderate cardinal concessions" astir the US' argumentation connected Taiwan.

Mr Biden, dissimilar erstwhile US presidents, has repeatedly said the US would support Taiwan successful the lawsuit of a Chinese invasion.

But the White House has ever rolled backmost his comments, insisting that Washington's stance of "strategic ambiguity" - nether which it does not perpetrate to defending Taiwan but besides does not regularisation retired the enactment - remains unchanged.

The White House aboriginal said connected Thursday that it would little Taiwan connected the results of the meeting, with nationalist information advisor Jake Sullivan saying the purpose was to marque Taiwan consciousness "secure and comfortable" astir US support.

Meanwhile, China's overseas ministry said the US should enactment unneurotic with China to debar misunderstandings and misjudgements, adding that portion it wants bid with the US, "the Taiwan question" is astatine the halfway of its interests.

At the Chinese Communist Party legislature past month, Mr Xi reiterated China's presumption connected Taiwan wherever they would "never committedness to renounce the usage of force".

He said they reserved the enactment of "taking each measures necessary" if "outside forces" interfered with China's claims.

The US has agelong been walking a tightrope implicit Taiwan. A cornerstone of its narration with Beijing is the One China policy, according to which Washington acknowledges lone 1 Chinese authorities - successful Beijing - and has nary ceremonial ties with Taiwan.

But it besides maintains adjacent relations with Taiwan and sells arms to it nether the Taiwan Relations Act, which states that the US indispensable supply the land with the means to support itself.

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