Xi: China Won't Fight Hot War With Anyone

Xi and US President Joe Biden on Wednesday spent four hours at Filoli estate, an historical site in San Francisco, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' meeting. They held a two-hour meeting but key matters, such as Taiwan issues and chip export controls, are still unresolved.

“The Taiwan question has always been the most important and sensitive issue in China-US relations,” Xi told Biden in their meeting on Wednesday.“The US side should follow through on its statement of 'not supporting Taiwan independence,' stop arming Taiwan, and support China's peaceful reunification.”

“China will finally become unified,” he stressed.

Xi told Biden that China's preference is to resolve the Taiwan issues through peaceful reunification but then he“moved immediately to conditions that the potential use of force could be utilized,” according to a Reuters report, which cited a senior US official.

“President Biden responded very clearly that the long-standing position of the US was ... determination to maintain peace and stability,” the official said.“President Xi responded: look, peace is ... all well and good but at some point we need to move towards resolution more generally.”

Officials said Xi was trying to indicate that China is not preparing for a massive invasion of Taiwan, but that does not change the US approach.

“The achievement of the Xi-Biden meeting is that both sides showed their interests to stabilize their relations,” Lau Siu-kai, a consultant to the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies, told Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK).

“But actually the two countries did not make big changes in their relationship as they could not compromise on key issues, including Taiwan, South China Sea and high technology matters,” Lau said.

In October 2022, Xi said in a report at the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party that China will not give up the option of occupying Taiwan by force. He said Beijing will reserve all necessary options to resolve the matter.

During the Xi-Biden meeting, both sides agreed to promote and strengthen dialogue and cooperation in various areas, including resumption of high-level military-to-military communication, the China-US Defense Policy Coordination Talks, and the China-US Military Maritime Consultative Agreement meetings. Telephone conversations between theater commanders are to be conducted“on the basis of equality and respect.”

Biden said it's important progress that US and Chinese leaders can“pick up the phone and call one another” whenever there are any concerns related to the two countries. He said the US would maintain an agreement that“there is a One China policy.”

Following then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan in August 2022, Beijing had cut off all communication channels with the US for several months. After Biden and Xi Jinping met in Bali in November 2022, the two sides resumed dialogue over Taiwan, Ukraine, climate change and trade matters, but not military communication.

In May this year, Beijing declined a request from Washington for a meeting between China's Minister of National Defense Li Shangfu
and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. It blamed the US for having sanctioned Li over China's purchases of Russian combat aircraft and arms since 2018.

On June 2, Austin shook hands with Li on the sidelines of a security summit in Singapore but they did not have a“substantive exchange.”

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On October 24, Li was formally removed from his position after he disappeared from the public eye for two months. The dismissal of Li was reportedly related to an anti-corruption probe but some observers said Li was responsible for a submarine accident that killed 55 Chinese sailors in the Yellow Sea on August 21. Beijing has not yet announced a new defense chief.

Taiwan's presidential election

Meanwhile, the Kuomintang (KMT)'s Hou Yu-ih and the Taiwan People's Party (TPP)'s Ko Wen-je on Wednesday held a meeting and agreed to form an alliance to fight against the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in Taiwan's presidential elections in January 2024. Hou and Ko will decide who will lead the campaign based on their public polls.

Media reports said former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou had pushed Hou and Ko to meet each other. Ko told the media that he is reluctant to work with the KMT but he hates to see the DPP renew its term.

Lai Ching-te, DPP's presidential candidate, said last week that he will not be scared by a KMT-TPP alliance as he is the only candidate who can help avoid a war in the Taiwan Strait. Lai said the only way for Taiwan to protect itself from China's invasion is to stand with the world's democratic camp to deter Beijing.

Ngan Shun-kau, a Canada-based Hong Kong commentator, says in an article that if Taiwanese people elect the KMT to rule the island, they may lose support from the West. He said the KMT may not resist China's invasion.

Read: Xi and Biden at summit speak of conflict avoidance

Follow Jeff Pao on Twitter at
@jeffpao3

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