Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) last year asked US President Joe Biden to change the language the US uses when discussing its position on Taiwanese independence, according to two US officials familiar with the private conversation.
During a Biden-Xi meeting in November last year near San Francisco, Xi and his aides asked Biden and his team to tweak the language in US official statements.
China wanted the US to say “we oppose Taiwan independence,” rather than the current version, which is that the US “does not support” independence for Taiwan, said the people, who requested anonymity to speak about private diplomatic exchanges they participated in or were briefed on.
Photo: Reuters
Xi’s aides have repeatedly followed up and made the requests in the months since, according to two US officials and another person familiar with the exchanges.
The US has declined to make the change.
The White House responded to a request for comment with a statement that repeated the line that Washington “does not support Taiwan independence.”
“The Biden-[US Vice President Kamala] Harris administration has been consistent on our long-standing one China policy,” the statement read.
“You should ask this question to the US government. China’s position on the Taiwan issue is clear and consistent,” the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
In Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs declined to comment.
For several years, Chinese diplomats have pushed the US to make changes to how it refers to Taiwan’s status.
The unusually direct and renewed push at the leader level has not been reported previously.
It was not clear why Xi raised the issue with Biden, but he has made opposition to Taiwanese independence a focus of his time in office and China’s military has significantly ramped up its activities around the nation in the past few years.
The Biden administration regards the proposed language change as a non-starter.
Taiwan was briefed on the recent overtures at a high level by Washington, one of the sources said.
Leaders in Beijing “would love it if Joe Biden said very different things about Taiwan than he says, no doubt,” said one senior Biden administration official, adding that Biden would stick with the standard US formulation for talking about Taiwanese independence.
During his time in office, Biden has upset the Chinese government with comments that appeared to suggest the US would defend the nation if it were attacked, a deviation from a long-held US position of “strategic ambiguity.”
A change by Washington to say that it opposes Taiwanese independence would reverberate through the trade-rich Asia-Pacific region, and with US partners, competitors and adversaries alike.
Officials from two governments in the region told reporters that they would interpret any such change in wording as a change in US policy toward less support for Taipei’s defense and diplomatic aspirations at a time when Beijing has ramped up military pressure.
Any switch in language could also be seen signaling a shift in US policy from supporting the resolution of Taiwan’s future through peaceful talks to one suggesting that the US stands against Taiwanese aspirations regardless of the circumstances.
In 2022, the US Department of State changed its Web site on Taiwan, removing wording on not supporting Taiwanese independence and on acknowledging Beijing’s position that “Taiwan is part of China.”
It later restored the language on not supporting independence for Taiwan.
The two leaders are expected to speak again before Biden’s term in office ends in January, talks that might come by phone or on the sidelines of next month’s G20 summit in Brazil or APEC summit in Peru.
APEC is one of few international forums where Taiwan and China take part.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by