Senior diplomats from the US and China will meet on Friday with emotions running high following a trip to Taiwan by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a clear commitment by US President Joe Biden to defend the island claimed by China.
On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet in New York. Washington’s continuous efforts to “keep open channels of communication and manage competition properly,” according to the State Department, including this.
The meeting takes place only days after Biden declared that the American military would protect Taiwan in the case of a Chinese invasion. China was furious, claiming that Biden’s remarks conveyed the wrong message to those who wanted an independent Taiwan.
The latest instance of Biden appearing to deviate from a long-standing American policy of “strategic ambiguity,” which leaves it unclear whether Washington would use military force in response to an attack on Taiwan, came in his statement.
The White House stressed that its Taiwan policy had not changed, but his comments were the clearest to date about sending American troops to defend the island.
China’s leader Xi Jinping issued a warning on Taiwan in a phone chat with Biden in July, saying, “Those who play with fire will perish by it.”
Following Pelosi’s solidarity trip to Taipei at the beginning of last month, China stationed a large number of aircraft and fired live missiles toward the island.
Taiwan, which is democratically run, is considered one of China’s provinces. Beijing has long promised to subjugate Taiwan and hasn’t ruled out using force to accomplish so.
Only the 23 million residents of the island, according to Taiwan’s democratically elected government, have the power to determine its future.
The architect of U.S. relations with communist China, Henry Kissinger, met with Wang earlier in the week. Wang expressed China’s desire for a “peaceful reunion” with Taiwan.
He cited a Chinese saying, “It is better to lose a thousand soldiers than an inch of territory,” in claiming that the likelihood of a peaceful conclusion was lowered by the increasingly “rampant” enthusiasm for Taiwanese independence.
According to China’s Foreign Ministry, he declared, “This is the will and determination of the Chinese people.”
