Taiwan welcomes Biden’s message of cross-strait peace to Xi
Taiwan welcomed Thursday U.S. President Joe Biden’s expression of Washington’s determination to maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and his urging of Beijing to show restraint in the region during talks with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.
The self-ruled democratic island also expressed its gratitude to Biden for telling Xi that China should not interfere in its electoral processes, Taiwan’s presidential office said following the leaders’ summit near San Francisco Wednesday. Taiwan will hold a presidential election in January.
Taiwan will continue to strengthen its defensive capabilities and deepen its security partnership with the United States, in order to continue working with like-minded countries to jointly safeguard cross-strait peace and stability, the office said.
During the talks, Xi called on the United States to “stop arming Taiwan” and support the island’s peaceful reunification with the mainland, and said that Beijing’s will to bring the self-ruled territory into its fold is “unstoppable,” according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
Communist-led China has not ruled out the use of force to seize the island. Despite the absence of official diplomatic ties, the United States is one of Taiwan’s most important arms suppliers and trading partners.
Taiwan Foreign Ministry spokesman Jeff Liu told reporters Thursday that Taipei will continue to seek international support so that China recognizes that “the cost of launching a war is extremely high,” and therefore “will not act rashly.”
