- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday warned U.S.
President Joe Biden against "playing with fire"
over Taiwan, as Beijing's concerns mounted over
a possible visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
to the Chinese-claimed Island.
In a phone call that lasted over two hours,
Chinese state media said Xi told Biden that the United States
should abide by the "one-China principle"
and stressed that China firmly opposed
Taiwanese independence and interference
of external forces.
Chinese state media quoted Xi as telling
Biden, quote, "Those who play with fire will only get burnt.
We hope the U.S. side can see this clearly."
According to a White House statement,
Biden told Xi that U.S. policy on Taiwan had not changed
and that the United States strongly
opposed unilateral efforts to change the status quo
or undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.
Beijing has issued escalating warnings about repercussions
should Pelosi--
a Democrat like Biden-- visit Taiwan, which says it
is facing increasing Chinese military and economic threats.
A visit by the House speaker would
be a dramatic, though not unprecedented, show
of U.S. support for the island.
The last time a speaker of the U.S. House
visited Taiwan was in 1997, and as a co-equal branch
of government, the U.S. executive
has little control over congressional travel.
White House press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre
told reporters during a briefing Thursday that Biden brought
up genocide to Xi as well.
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: He raised genocide and forced
labor practices by the PRC.
That is something that he raised about the human rights,
as he always does.
This is, as we've said, that any time the president
has an opportunity, he raises that when
he meets with another leader and called
on PRC to cease its ongoing human rights
abuses across China.
- The White House readout said the two leaders also discussed
a range of other issues, including climate
change and health security.
U.S. officials said they saw the fifth call between Biden and Xi
as another chance to manage competition between the world's
two largest economies, whose ties have been increasingly
clouded by tensions over democratically governed
Taiwan, which Xi has vowed to reunite with the mainland,
by force if necessary.