Xi Warns Biden Not To ‘Play with Fire’ Over Taiwan

By Staff, Agencies

Chinese President Xi Jinping warned his American counterpart Joe Biden against “playing with fire” over Taiwan in a highly anticipated phone call that lasted more than two hours on Thursday, as tensions remain high over House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s potential trip to the island next month.

“Those who play with fire will be perished by it. It is hoped that the US will be clear-eyed about this,” Xi said, according to a Chinese statement. He also urged the US to implement the three joint communiques that serve as the foundation for relations between the two countries “both in word and in deed.”

The Chinese president vowed “resolutely” to safeguard China’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity and said this is “the firm will of more than 1.4 billion Chinese people.”

This is not the first time Xi has used such language to dissuade Washington from publicly supporting Taipei. Last November, he also warned the US president in a virtual summit that China was prepared to take “decisive measures” if Taiwan makes any moves towards independence that cross Beijing’s red lines.

In response to Xi’s comment on Taiwan, Biden reiterated Washington’s policy and said it had not changed and that “the United States strongly opposes unilateral efforts to change the status quo or undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan strait”, according to the US statement, which was much shorter than the Chinese one.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre would not comment on China’s readout of the call, simply saying that Biden and Xi had “a direct, straightforward conversation.”

Noting that Biden and Xi have known each other for about four decades, Jean-Pierre said the call had been “in the works for quite some time.” Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, proposed the conversation in June when he met with his Chinese counterpart “as part of our efforts to maintain open lines of communication and manage the relationship responsibly”, Jean-Pierre said.