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WASHINGTON — Chinese President Xi Jinping bluntly told President Joe Biden during their recent summit in San Francisco that Beijing will reunify Taiwan with mainland China but that the timing has not yet been decided, according to three current and former U.S. officials.
Xi told Biden at an organization assembly attended by a dozen U. S. and Chinese officials that China prefers to take Taiwan peacefully and not by force, the officials said.
The Chinese leader also referenced public predictions by U. S. military leaders that Xi planned to take Taiwan in 2025 or 2027, telling Biden they were because he had not set a timetable, according to the two officials present and a former manager briefed on the meeting.
Chinese officials also demanded ahead of the summit that Biden make public after the assembly that the U. S. helps China’s purpose of nonviolent unification with Taiwan and does not help Taiwan’s independence, they said. The White House rejected China’s request.
A spokesperson for the National Security Council declined to comment.
The revelations provide never-before-seen details about a meeting between the two leaders that was aimed at easing tensions between their countries.
Xi’s personal warning to Biden, while not much different from his comments beyond public ones about Taiwan reunification, caught the attention of U. S. officials because it came at a time when China’s behavior toward Taiwan is seen as increasingly competitive and ahead of a potentially presidential election. on the self-governing democratic island next month.
After this article was first published, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S. C. ) called on Republicans and Democrats to work together to deter China.
“This story, as reported, is beyond disturbing,” Graham said. “I will work with Democratic and Republican senators to do two things quickly. First, create a strong additional defense for Taiwan, and second, draft hellish pre-invasion sanctions to be imposed on Taiwan. “China does take steps towards Taiwan.
Officials familiar with the verbal exchange between Biden and Xi described the Chinese leader as direct and frank, but confrontational.
“His language was no different from what he said. He is Taiwan. I’ve taken a hard line,” said a U. S. official with knowledge of the verbal exchange.
Xi’s attacks on Taiwan are the main fear of Biden administration officials, who are aggressively seeking a military confrontation with China.
At last year’s Chinese Communist Party Congress, Xi publicly stated that China would militarily attack Taiwan if it declared independence with foreign support. The Chinese leader said the risk of force “is aimed only at the interference of external forces and the few separatists. “seeking” Taiwan’s independence.
Xi, who has set a goal of doubling the life of China’s economy by 2035, also said that “we will have to continue to make economic progress our main task. “Some experts say China is unlikely to attack Taiwan if it does not claim independence, as a military clash would likely save Beijing from achieving its economic goals.
At the San Francisco summit, Xi expressed considerations about the candidates who will run for Taiwan’s presidency in next month’s election, according to U. S. officials. Xi also highlighted U. S. influence over Taiwan, they said.
When Biden called on China to respect Taiwan’s election process, Xi responded by saying peace was “a smart thing to do” but that China will eventually have to move toward a resolution, a U. S. official said.
Biden’s meeting with Xi, the first in a year, took months for U. S. officials to be confident after relations between Washington and Beijing hit a low point in February after the U. S. shot down a Chinese spy balloon. The White House hoped the assembly would ease tensions. and Biden was then pressured for wanting to avoid conflict.
“We’re in a competitive relationship between China and the United States, but my duty is to make that rational and manageable, so that it doesn’t lead to conflict,” Biden said. “That’s who I am. That’s what it is. “about.
CIA Director William Burns said earlier this year that U. S. intelligence shows Xi had ordered his military to be in a position to invade Taiwan until 2027. “That doesn’t mean he should lead an invasion in 2027, or any time. ” another year, but it does. ” remind us of the seriousness of his focus and ambition,” Burns said.
Biden has said in the past that the U. S. military would attack Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion, but the White House has backtracked on his comments.
Under its longtime “One China” policy, the U.S. recognizes Beijing as China’s sole legal government but maintains unofficial relations with Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its territory. Most of the island’s 24 million people favor maintaining the status quo, neither unifying with China nor formally declaring independence.
After the summit, Biden reiterated longstanding US policy. “We have an agreement on the one-China policy,” he said, adding: “I’m not going to replace that. That’s not going to replace that. “
One Chinese official who attended the meeting, Hua Chunying, posted afterward on X that Xi had told Biden and other U.S. officials that the “Taiwan question remains the most important and most sensitive issue in China-U.S. relations.” Hua added that the U.S. should “support China’s peaceful reunification” and that “China will realize reunification, and this is unstoppable.”
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