Xi Jinping urged Joe Biden to change language on Taiwan: report

Last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping asked U.S. President Joe Biden to change the language the United States uses when discussing its position on Taiwan independence, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the private conversation .

At last November's Biden-Xi meeting near San Francisco, Xi and his aides asked Biden and his team to change the language of official U.S. statements.

China wanted the United States to say “we oppose Taiwan independence,” rather than the current version, which says the United States “does not support” Taiwan independence, said these people, who requested anonymity to speak about the private diplomatic exchanges in which they participated. or have been informed.

Xi's aides followed up on those requests multiple times in the months that followed, according to two U.S. officials and another person familiar with the exchanges.

The United States refused to make this change.

The White House responded to a request for comment with a statement reiterating the line that Washington does not support Taiwan's independence. “The Biden-Harris administration has been consistent in its long-standing One China policy,” the statement said.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said: “You should ask this question to the US government. China's position on the Taiwan issue is clear and consistent. »

Taiwan's Foreign Ministry declined to comment.

The defeated Republic of China government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing the civil war to Mao Zedong's communists.

The Republic of China remains Taiwan's official name and the government says it has no plans to change it given that it is already a sovereign, independent state and Beijing has not the right to claim Taiwan as its own.

SENSITIVE ISSUE

For several years, Chinese diplomats have pushed the United States to change how it refers to the status of Taiwan, which remains the most sensitive area of ​​U.S.-China relations. This unusually direct and renewed push at the leadership level has not been previously reported.

The United States severed official relations with the Taipei government in 1979, but is required by law to provide democratically governed Taiwan with the means to defend itself. China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control.

It's unclear why Xi chose to raise the issue with Biden, but he has made opposition to Taiwan independence a priority of his term and the Chinese military has significantly increased its activities around the island in recent years.

The Biden administration views the proposed language change as a failure.

Taiwan has been informed at a high level of Washington's recent overtures, one of the sources said.

Beijing's leaders “would love for Joe Biden to say very different things about Taiwan, without a doubt,” a senior Biden administration official said, adding that Biden would stick to standard American wording when talking about the independence of Taiwan.

During his term, Biden antagonized the Chinese government with comments that appeared to suggest the United States would defend the island if it were attacked, a deviation from a long-standing U.S. stance of “strategic ambiguity.”

A CHANGE THAT WOULD BE RESULTED

A shift by the United States to declare that it opposes Taiwan independence would have repercussions across the trade-rich Asia-Pacific region, as well as among the United States' partners, competitors and adversaries. United.

Officials from two governments in the region told Reuters they would interpret such a change in wording as a shift in U.S. policy toward less support for Taipei's military and diplomatic aspirations, at a time when Beijing has stepped up its military pressure .

Over the past five years, China has conducted almost daily military activities around Taiwan. Earlier this month, Beijing held a day of war drills using what Taiwan said was a record 153 military aircraft in drills simulating the blockade of ports and assault of maritime targets and terrestrial.

Any change in language could also be seen as a sign of a shift in U.S. policy, moving from support for resolving Taiwan's future through peaceful negotiations to a policy suggesting that the United States opposes to Taiwanese aspirations, whatever the circumstances involved.

Opinion polls in Taiwan show that most people favor maintaining the status quo, without seeking to join China or create a new state.

In 2022, the State Department changed its website on Taiwan, removing mention of both its non-support for Taiwanese independence and recognition of Beijing's position that Taiwan is part of China , which angered the Chinese. He then reinstated language that he did not support the island's independence.

The two leaders are expected to speak again before Biden's term ends in January, discussions that could take place by phone or on the sidelines of next month's G20 summit in Brazil or the APEC summit in Peru. APEC is one of the few international forums in which Taiwan and China participate.

The Democratic president will hand the tense Taiwan issue to his successor, Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris or Republican former President Donald Trump, after the Nov. 5 election.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)