Taiwan envoy says he’s hopeful Biden-Xi meeting will reduce tensions in the Asia-Pacific region

SAN FRANCISCO – The 92-year-old businessman who represented Taiwan at this week’s summit of Asia-Pacific leaders in San Francisco expressed hope Friday that the assembly between U.S. President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping ought to assist to cut back tensions between the 2 superpowers and within the area.

Morris Chang, the founding father of the microchip big Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Firm, additionally steered the assembly may assist to advertise financial stability and dependable provide chains.

“You don’t must be a frontrunner to know that if there isn’t a peace, there isn’t a provide chain to start out with,” Chang mentioned at a information convention on the shut of the Asia Pacific Financial Cooperation summit.

Chang mentioned the Biden-Xi assembly was a “good” one, pointing to their settlement to renew high-level navy communications.

“It ought to assist cut back the tensions between the U.S. and China, and it ought to enhance stability of Taiwan Strait,” Chang mentioned.

Taiwan, a self-governed island of 23 million folks, stays the thorniest problem in U.S.-China relations, as Beijing and Washington conflict over its sovereignty. Tensions have flared in recent times as Beijing will increase navy strain on the island, which it claims to be a part of Chinese language territory and vows to grab by power if mandatory to realize nationwide unification.

Washington has a safety pact with Taiwan to discourage any armed assault from Beijing and has stepped up its help for the island. The U.S. insists the matter have to be solved peacefully, with out taking a aspect.

It was a excessive precedence when Xi and Biden met Wednesday for 4 hours at an property outdoors San Francisco of their first face-to-face assembly in a yr.

Xi sought assurances from Biden that the U.S. wouldn’t help Taiwan’s independence and requested that Washington help China’s peaceable reunification with Taiwan.

“China will understand reunification, and that is unstoppable,” the Chinese language president mentioned.

Biden, in the meantime, urged Xi to chorus from navy workouts in and across the Taiwan Strait.

Since September 2020, the Chinese language navy has been sending warships and warplanes close to the island on a near-daily foundation. In August 2022, Beijing fired missiles towards the island and blockaded it for days after Nancy Pelosi, then the Home speaker, visited the island regardless of Beijing’s objections.

Biden informed Xi that Washington stays unchanged in its coverage towards Taiwan and that it opposes any unilateral adjustments to the established order from both aspect.

“We anticipate cross-strait variations to be resolved by peaceable means,” Biden mentioned.

Solar Yun, director of the China program on the Washington-based Stimson Middle suppose tank, mentioned Washington received’t settle for Beijing’s new demand to help peaceable reunification.

“That is categorically completely different from the U.S. purpose that the decision of the Taiwan problem have to be peaceable, which doesn’t impose a precondition on what the result will seem like, solely that it have to be peaceable,” Solar mentioned. “It is a request we’ve seen the Chinese language interlocutors floating round not too long ago. It’s unbelievable for the U.S. to simply accept it.”

In San Francisco, Chang represented Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in attending the summit as a result of Beijing opposed Tsai being current.

Chang, representing Taiwan on the APEC summit for the seventh time, mentioned he was tasked by Tsai to ship the message that Taiwan is dedicated to regional peace and prosperity and that the island will work with its companions to regulate local weather change, construct extra resilient provide chains and cut back the digital divide.

“I believe I’ve completed it — that I attempted my finest to convey the 4 messages,” Chang mentioned.

Chang mentioned he had “many interactions” with Biden, thought there was no formal speak, and mentioned he spoke with senior U.S. officers, together with Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Lael Brainard, Biden’s financial adviser.

Chang mentioned he additionally had “critical” discussions with at the least half of the leaders of the 21 economies within the area, together with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, on points equivalent to regional peace, financial improvement and provide chains, however that he did not converse with Xi in the course of the summit.

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