The Chinese Communist Party, through its state media arms and Foreign Ministry, is demanding leftist President Joe Biden abandon support for the nation of Taiwan and lift restrictions on Chinese technology imports as a precursor to an expected meeting between Biden and dictator Xi Jinping in November.
Biden met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday to discuss, according to the White House, the “need to manage competition in the relationship responsibly” and “work[ing] together to address global challenges.” Multiple reports indicate that Biden used the opportunity to extend an invitation to Xi Jinping to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in November, scheduled to take place in San Francisco, California.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry told reporters on Monday that Wang discussed an “upcoming meeting in San Francisco” between Xi and Biden, but emphasized that there was no guarantee that Xi would show up.
“I want to stress that it won’t be plain sailing to San Francisco, nor can we leave it to autopilot to get us there,” spokesman Wang Wenbin said. “Both sides need to earnestly return to what was agreed in Bali, act on the common understandings of the two Presidents, rise above disruptions, overcome obstacles, expand common understandings and accumulate outcomes.”
November will mark one year since Xi and Biden met in person. Their last encounter took place in Bali, Indonesia, during the G20 summit hosted there. Biden regularly boasts, using dubious statistics, his alleged close friendship and longstanding relationship with Xi. Most recently, last week, Biden claimed that he had visited Tibet with Xi and “spent a great deal of time with him one-on-one.”
File/U.S. President Joe Biden, right, and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands before their meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit meeting, Nov. 14, 2022, in Nusa Dua, in Bali, Indonesia. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
Xi Jinping is one of the world’s most egregious human rights criminals, currently spearheading a genocide against the majority-Muslim Turkic populations of occupied East Turkistan (the “Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region”) and presiding over a pervasive crackdown on all religions featuring the destruction of churches and mosques, the mass arrests of the faithful, and the extermination of people affiliated with “illegal” spiritual movements such as the Falun Gong.
The Biden administration has prioritized attempting to maintain a friendly relationship with Xi, anyway, on the grounds that China is the world’s second-largest economy and too geopolitically influential to be in conflict against.
The Global Times, a Chinese government propaganda outlet, noted in an editorial on Foreign Minister Wang’s trip to Washington, DC, last week that a potential meeting between Xi and Biden was on the table. The outlet suggested that the meeting may not happen, however, if Biden did not submit to Chinese regime demands on two issues in particular: China’s false claims to ownership of the nation of Taiwan and China’s disapproval of tariffs on Chinese tech imports and subsidies for American companies developing semiconductors and other critical technology China wishes to dominate.
“[I]n areas such as economy, trade, and people-to-people exchanges, the US side can cancel the harmful and self-damaging tariffs on China and effectively remove various barriers to people-to-people exchanges between the two countries,” the editorial asserted. “In addition, the biggest challenge facing China-US relations is ‘Taiwan independence.’ The US side has repeatedly made clear commitments not to support ‘Taiwan independence.’ The extent to which these commitments can be translated into specific policies and actions also affects the credibility of the US itself.”
Taiwan is a sovereign state with a fully independent government and society from communist China. The island of Taiwan has never in its history been governed out of Beijing. Despite this, the Communist Party claims Taiwan is a “province” of communist China and refuses to maintain diplomatic ties with countries that recognize the reality of Taiwan’s existence. The United States, following a decision by former President Jimmy Carter, does not recognize Taiwan as a country, but sells Taiwan weapons and maintains informal exchanges with the country, outraging the Communist Party.
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U.S. Indo-Pacific Command / SCI + TECH /TMXChina regularly threatens to invade and colonize Taiwan, but has yet to mobilize to do so. Its threats are particularly hollow at the moment as, following a mysterious disappearance, Xi fired his defense minister and has yet to appoint anyone to the top defense position in the country.
The Global Times reported that Wang Yi had similarly warned Biden that failing to obey Beijing’s demands could jeopardize the meeting with Xi. Wang reportedly demanded Biden “truly implement the common understanding reached by the two leaders, remove disruption, overcome obstacles, build consensus, and accumulate outcomes.” Speaking to Biden’s National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Wang reportedly said “that ‘Taiwan independence’ is the biggest threat to peace and stability … [and] must be firmly opposed with concrete policies and actions.”
The Global Times added that alleged Chinese “experts,” echoing Beijing’s talking points, interpreted Wang’s remarks as a “reminder to the US to rein in its toxic domestic politics that are highly antagonistic of China.” The “experts” complained in particular about Washington’s distant tolerance of Taiwan and limitations on Chinese tech companies’ access to American markets.
“The Biden administration is reducing the types of semiconductors that American companies can sell to China, citing the desire to close loopholes in existing regulations announced last year,” the state newspaper claimed. “Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times that the US should also rein in its toxic domestic politics that is highly confrontational against China.”
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Under both Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump, the United States has moved to limit Chinese companies’ access to American markets in response to a variety of security concerns, including intellectual property theft, Chinese technology companies working hand-in-hand with the People’s Liberation Army, and detrimental circumstances for the development of domestic American technology development.
The Chinese government has specifically objected to limitations on purchasing Chinese chips and semiconductors and to government subsidies meant to aid American companies developing those products. In May, China demanded the World Trade Center intervene and punish Washington.
“US’ semiconductor subsidy policy, together with its export control measures, have disrupted the global chip supply chain, reflecting the ‘Cold War thinking’ of the US and ‘trade bullying’ when it comes to normal trade,” the Global Times paraphrased the Chinese government as stating in a World Trade Organization complaint.
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