According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry and state-owned media, after frank discussions with President Biden in San Francisco, President Xi has agreed to restore military communications, but will not budge on Taiwan.
The excerpt below is from CCTV which outlined the red lines for China which encompasses Taiwan and sanctions. Xi’s primary point here is that Taiwan will be reunified with the mainland:
”Xi Jinping elaborated on the principled position on the Taiwan issue in depth, pointing out that the Taiwan issue has always been the most important and sensitive issue in Sino-US relations. China attaches great importance to the relevant positive statements made by the United States during the Bali meeting. The United States should embody its stance of not supporting “Taiwan independence” in concrete actions, stop arming Taiwan, and support China’s peaceful reunification. China will eventually be reunified and will inevitably be reunified.
Xi Jinping pointed out that the United States has continuously taken measures against China in terms of export controls, investment reviews, and unilateral sanctions, which have seriously damaged China’s legitimate interests. Suppressing China’s science and technology is to curb China’s high-quality development and deprive the Chinese people of their right to development. China’s development and growth have an endogenous logic and cannot be stopped by external forces. We hope that the United States will take China’s concerns seriously, take action, lift unilateral sanctions, and provide a fair, just and non-discriminatory environment for Chinese companies.”
The below excerpt outlines the common ground the two leaders came to during the meetings, encompassing restoring military communications.
”The two heads of state agreed to promote and strengthen dialogue and cooperation between China and the United States in various fields, including: establishing an intergovernmental dialogue on artificial intelligence; establishing a Sino-US anti-drug cooperation working group to carry out anti-drug cooperation; restoring high-level communication between the two militaries on the basis of equality and respect, and resuming Sino-US defense cooperation. Ministry of Foreign Affairs work meeting, China-U.S. Maritime Military Security Consultation Mechanism meeting, and China-U.S. military theater leadership calls; agreed to further significantly increase flights early next year; expand exchanges in education, international students, youth, culture, sports, and business circles, etc.
The two heads of state emphasized the importance of China and the United States jointly accelerating efforts to respond to the climate crisis in the current critical decade, and welcomed the recent active discussions held by the climate envoys of the two countries, including: domestic emission reduction actions in the 2020s, jointly promoting the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai (COP28) ) successfully launched the China-U.S. “Working Group on Strengthening Climate Action in the 2120s” to accelerate specific climate actions.”
During this meeting, simultaneous statements were made by several members of the Chinese Foreign Ministry:
Both agreed that their meeting was comprehensive and constructive. It has charted the course for improving and developing China-U.S. relations. And San Francisco should be a new starting point for stabilizing China-U.S. relations. pic.twitter.com/x3uCI6aRBB
— Hua Chunying ??? (@SpokespersonCHN) November 15, 2023
U.S. actions against China regarding export control, investment screening and unilateral sanctions seriously hurt China’s legitimate interests.
— Hua Chunying ??? (@SpokespersonCHN) November 15, 2023
While the reporting from this meeting was overall positive, it is important to note that China’s actions in the South China Sea will continue to confront U.S. pacts with the Philippines.
