China’s ruler Xi Jinping has warned the United States over the continued standoff regarding Taiwan. Xi said that it could put both the US and China in “a very dangerous situation.”
Xi told US President Donald Trump that the Taiwan issue is the single most important concern in bilateral relations. “The Taiwan question is the most important issue in China-US relations,” Xi said. “If it is handled properly, the bilateral relationship will enjoy overall stability. Otherwise, the two countries may clash or even come into conflict, pushing the entire China-US relationship into a very dangerous situation.”
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Xi made the remarks on Thursday during a meeting with Trump at the Great Hall of the People in China. This was the first US presidential visit to China in nearly nine years. The trip is expected to revolve around the Iran war, trade disputes, AI rivalry, and tensions around Taiwan, a self-ruled island which China deems part of its sovereign territory, according to a report by RT.
The May 14-15 summit comes one year after Trump predicted towering trade tariffs would bring America’s main economic rival to heel. Instead, court rulings have blunted Trump’s power to use tariffs, while the conflict with Iran has drained his approval ratings and sent energy prices soaring. More than 60% of Americans disapprove of the Iran war, according to a Reuters/Ipsos survey last month.
Xi also claimed that Taiwan’s “independence” and cross-strait peace are “as irreconcilable as fire and water.”
The Chinese leader also contemplated relations with the US in historical terms, wondering whether Washington and Beijing could overcome the ‘Thucydides Trap’ – the theory coined by Harvard scholar Graham Allison which describes the tendency toward war when a rising power threatens to displace an established one – and forge a “new paradigm of major-country relations.” –RT
Taiwan’s ruling class, which has been watching the summit with concern, has been fearful of potential concessions from Trump. Because of that, it pushed back, with cabinet spokesperson Michelle Lee claiming that “China’s military threat is the sole source of insecurity in the Taiwan Strait and the broader Indo-Pacific region.”
Was this the beginning of peace bargaining regarding Taiwan? Or was it the start of more tensions that could ignite a war between China and the US over Taiwan’s sovereignty?