U.S., China to resume military-to-military communication – Biden; Tells Xi China must respect electoral processes in Taiwan
San Francisco (U.S.), Nov. 16, 2023
The U.S. and China will resume military-to-military communication after a long period of radio silence, according to U.S. President Joe Biden.
Biden disclosed this to reporters after a long-awaited face-to-face meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
The meeting held on the sidelines of the ongoing summit in Filoli Estate, San Francisco, U.S.
The summit is the 30th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Meeting that began on Nov. 14 to end on Nov. 17.
The step was “critically important,” the U.S. leader said.
“We are reassuming military-to-military direct contact… (which had) been cut off, and has been worrisome.
“That’s how accidents happen,” Biden said during a news conference in San Francisco.
“We’re back to direct, open, clear, direct communications,” Biden said.
“Vital miscalculations on either side can cause real, real trouble with a country like China or any other major country,” he added.
Biden, also on Wednesday insisted on the preservation of “peace and stability” in Taiwan, according to the White House.
At the meeting with Jinping, Biden made it clear that the U.S. had called on the Chinese to respect electoral processes in Taiwan, a representative of the U.S. government said after the meeting, according to journalists travelling with him.
During the exchange with Biden, Xi reportedly expressed concerns that the Taiwan issue is the biggest and potentially most dangerous conflict in U.S.-China relations.
He reportedly said he kept hearing reports from the U.S. that China was planning military action in Taiwan, but he asserted this is not the case.
Taiwan, which lies only 130 kilometres off the coast of mainland China, has had an independent government since 1949, but China considers the democratic island with more than 23 million inhabitants part of its territory.
There have been international concerns that China, like Russia in Ukraine, might launch a war to conquer Taiwan
Biden and Xi met in California for their first face-to-face meeting in a year to stabilise relations between the two countries.
The two heads of state met at a lavish estate south of San Francisco on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Community (APEC) summit there.
