US, China Top Diplomats To Discuss Taiwan As Beijing Issues Fresh Warning

The top US and Chinese diplomats meet Friday in New York as soaring tensions show signs of easing, but Beijing issued a new warning against support for Taiwan.

Top US and Chinese diplomats gather on Friday in New York as escalating tensions show signs of abating, but Beijing issued a new warning against supporting Taiwan.

Foreign Minister Anthony Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi are scheduled to meet on the sidelines of the annual United Nations summit.

Their first meeting since intense talks in July in Bali where both sides appeared to be optimistic about further stability.

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One month later, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, infuriating Beijing, which conducted exercises that were seen as a test run for the invasion of the autonomy democracy.

President Joe Biden said in an interview broadcast on Sunday that he is ready to intervene militarily if China uses force, once again stepping back from decades of American ambiguity.

In a sign of smoother relations, Wang said he met in New York with US climate envoy John Kerry despite China's announcement after Pelosi's visit that it was curbing cooperation on the issue.

Biden's main priority.

But in a speech before his talks with Blinken, Wang reiterated his anger at US support for Taiwan, which China considers part of its territory.

"The Taiwan question is developing into the biggest danger in Sino-US relations. If it is mishandled, it is likely to destroy bilateral relations,

said at the Asia Society Research Center.

"Just as the United States will not allow Hawaii to be stripped away, China has the right to support the country's unification," he said.

He denounced the United States' decision to "allow" the visit of Pelosi, who ranks second in the presidency after the vice president of Taiwan. Biden administration,

While he was particularly concerned about her trip, he noted that Congress is a separate branch of government.

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But Wang was conciliatory to Biden. The New York talks are expected to lay the groundwork for a first meeting between Biden and President Xi Jinping since they became leaders of their respective countries.

Most likely in Bali in November on the sidelines of the G20 summit of economic powers.

Wang said that both Biden and Xi seek to "success the China-US relations" and "stay away from conflict and confrontation."

However, what has happened is that the United States seems to have two different sets of tracks.

And the political will of their leaders for a stable bilateral relationship has not been translated into rational policies.”

The US Congress is a bastion of support for Taiwan, an active democracy and major technological power.

Last week, a Senate committee took the first step to provide billions of dollars in weapons directly to Taiwan to deter China, an increase after decades of selling only weapons ordered by Taipei.

Tensions over human rights have also risen with the United States accusing the communist state of committing genocide against the Muslim-majority Uyghur people.

Biden, like his predecessor Donald Trump, viewed a rising China as the main global rival of the United States and vowed to reorient U.S. foreign policy around this challenge.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February quickly shifted the focus of the United States to Europe, but it also heightened fears that Beijing might succeed in years of threats to use force against Taiwan.

However, US officials were relieved that China had shown some distance from Russia, its nominally close ally.

President Vladimir Putin said in a meeting last week of Xi that he understood China's "concerns" about Ukraine, while Wang, at a special session of the Security Council on Thursday, stressed the need to end the war rather than support Russia.

BY
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