U.S. to brief Taiwan on Biden-Xi talks: White House official

Washington will brief Taipei after United States President Joe Biden and China’s leader Xi Jinping (習近平) have a meeting in Bali, Indonesia on the sidelines of the G20 summit next week, the White House national security advisor said on Thursday.

“We’ll have the opportunity, as an administration, to brief Taiwan on the results of that meeting,” Jake Sullivan said at a press briefing, referring to the scheduled talks between Biden and Xi on Nov. 14, which will be the first in-person meeting between the leaders of the world’s two superpowers after Biden took office in January 2021.

“I’m confident that they [Taiwan] will feel very secure and comfortable in the United States’ position when it comes to our support for peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and our commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act, which does commit the United States to ensuring we’re providing the articles for Taiwan’s defense,” he added.

The planned meeting will provide an opportunity for both sides to “better understand one another’s priorities and intentions, to address differences, and to identify areas where we can work together,” Sullivan said.

He added that Biden would be “direct and straightforward” with Xi during their discussions.

Biden is expected to touch upon China’s military “activity that threatens peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait” and its violations of human rights, as well as North Korea’s nuclear threats and the Ukraine crisis, a senior U.S. administration official said in a background briefing the same day.

Asked at a press conference on Wednesday whether he would tell Xi that he is committed to defending Taiwan militarily, Biden did not respond directly to the question.

Instead, he said he would aim to lay out “what each of our red lines are,” and to understand what are the critical interests of both sides to “determine whether or not they conflict with one another.”

In a pre-recorded interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” program that aired on Sept. 18 in the U.S., Biden told host Scott Pelley that the U.S. would defend Taiwan “if in fact there was an unprecedented attack.”

It was the fourth time Biden had uttered this position in public, though each time it was followed by a clarification from administration officials that could be interpreted as walking back Biden’s stated commitment.

 

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel