Chinese president warns Biden that Taiwan is “insurmountable red line”

“Xi Jinping stressed that the Taiwan issue is the first insurmountable red line in Sino-US relations,” the official Xinhua news agency said. “We will not allow separatist activities or external collusion that support the ‘Taiwan independence’ forces to go unchecked,” said the Chinese head of state, quoted by the Chinese press.

For their part, senior White House officials indicated that Biden highlighted the North American defense of the “one China” policy and also expressed concern about “destabilizing actions” in the South China Sea, such as the attack, in March, by several Chinese ships with water cannons against a Philippine ship in those disputed waters.

In today’s telephone conversation, the first between the two leaders since their November summit, the United States of America (USA) stressed the importance of maintaining peace and stability both in the Taiwan Strait – a self-governing island whose sovereignty is claimed by China and which Washington has promised to defend against a possible Chinese invasion – as well as in the South China Sea, rich in resources and where Beijing has territorial disputes with neighboring countries.

Another topic discussed was the export of advanced technologies to China, on which Xi would like to see North American restrictions lifted.

The Chinese president told his US counterpart that Beijing will not “stand idly by” if Washington continues to suppress “China’s high-tech development”, according to Chinese state media.

Joe Biden responded that he will continue to make “necessary decisions to prevent advanced U.S. technologies from being used in ways that compromise U.S. national security,” according to a White House statement.

The United States has launched “a relentless series of measures aimed at suppressing China’s economy, trade, science and technology, and the list of sanctions against Chinese companies is getting longer and longer,” Xi told Biden, according to a recording of the telephone call between the two leaders published by the Xinhua news agency.

He added that if Washington “persists in suppressing China’s high-tech development and depriving China of its legitimate right to development,” Beijing “will not stand idly by.”

Today’s telephone conversation is part of the two countries’ efforts to reduce bilateral tensions.

The two leaders discussed other sensitive issues, such as Beijing’s support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and growing cybersecurity threats.

The call comes just before US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen travels to China for five days of meetings with her counterparts in Beijing and Guangzhou.

Biden and Xi agreed to reduce tensions between the two countries during “constructive and productive” talks in Washington last November.

In January, China’s Ministry of Defense expressed its desire to maintain “strong and stable” military relations with the United States.

Bilateral relations were mainly affected after several trips by senior US officials to the island of Taiwan and the sighting of an alleged Chinese spy balloon in US airspace.