U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke Thursday morning about what the White House said would be a range of issues, including economic matters, tensions about Taiwan and Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“President Biden’s call with President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) started at 8:33 am ET,” according to the White House.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters Wednesday Biden “wants to make sure that the lines of communication with President Xi remain open, because they need to. There’s issues where we can cooperate with China on, and then there’s issues where, obviously, there’s friction and tension.”
He said tensions regarding the South China Sea and what he called China’s “coercive and aggressive behavior” toward countries in the region are expected to be part of the discussion.
The call comes amid a potential visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan, which Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian warned Wednesday would “be met with forceful responses.”
Kirby said there has been no change to the U.S. policy that diplomatically recognizes Beijing and not Taipei.
“I’m sure that in one form or another he will reaffirm that there’s no change to America’s commitment to the One China Policy — none, zero — and that we continue to not want to see cross-Strait issues or tensions resolved unilaterally, and certainly not by force, and there’s no reason for it to,” Kirby said.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
