Joe Biden plans to meet with Xi Jinping and questions Pelosi’s Taiwan trip

Amid simmering tensions over Taiwan and trade, US President Joe Biden wants to meet with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping by the month’s end.

As he returned from a climate-related trip to Massachusetts, Biden told reporters, “I think I’ll be talking to President Xi within the next 10 days.”

There has been a lot of talk about this long-awaited phone contact between the two presidents, which would be their first in four months, at a critical time given Taiwan tensions and the Biden administration’s consideration of easing import levies on Chinese goods.

The United States considers China to be its principal strategic opponent and believes that high-level interaction is essential to maintaining a stable relationship and avoiding conflict.

A strategic statement naming China a security threat was pressed for adoption by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) last month.

On Wednesday (Jul. 20), President Joe Biden attempted to cast doubt on Nancy Pelosi’s supposedly planned trip to Taiwan next month.

“I assume the military doesn’t think it’s a smart idea right now, but I don’t know what the status of it is,” Biden said.

Pelosi’s journey to the Chinese-claimed island would “seriously damage China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Beijing said on Tuesday, warning that “forceful actions” would be taken if she did so.

No response from Pelosi’s office as to whether the visit will go forward was made due to the fear of security threats.

As a result, the trip has been labeled as “hypothetical” by the US government. The Financial Times stated that the White House had expressed worries about the trip, which was also published by the Financial Times.

The democratically run island is a source of friction between China and the United States because Beijing regards it as its own territory.

The Biden administration has repeatedly emphasized its “rock-solid” dedication to the island’s safety and security.

After US Senator Rick Scott visited Taipei, Beijing dispatched fighters across the Taiwan Strait after learning of the US Navy vessels’ transits over the strait as recently as Tuesday.

China and the Biden administration have been at conflict over China’s adherence to current trade accords.

As a result of increasing inflation, tariff relief, including the removal of Trump’s former Section 301 penalties covering nearly US$370 billion in Chinese imports, is now being considered.

Sources tell Reuters that President Joe Biden is considering a new inquiry of China’s industrial subsidies and aspirations to dominate critical industries, such as semiconductors, in conjunction with the elimination of some tariffs. Additional tariffs may be imposed as a result of such an investigation.