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進入《TAIPEI TIMES》‘No concessions’ on Taiwan: Biden to Xi
US President Joe Biden speaks at a news conference in the White House in Washington on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters
G20 SUMMIT: Biden said he wants to determine where ‘red lines’ lie to understand the critical interests of both sides when he meets Xi with other leaders in Bali next week
Staff Writer, with CNA, Washington
US President Joe Biden on Wednesday said he would not make any “fundamental concessions” on Taiwan’s defense when he meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping （習近平） at a G20 leaders’ summit in Bali, Indonesia, next week.
“I’m not willing to make any fundamental concessions because what I’ve told him in the beginning ... when I was vice president,” Biden said at a news conference, when asked if he would tell Xi that he is committed to defending Taiwan militarily and if he would be willing to make any concessions to Xi.
The US and China have been in discussions to arrange direct talks during the summit, which is to take place on Tuesday and Wednesday, and is to be the first in-person meeting between the two presidents.
Biden said he wants to lay out “what each of our red lines are,” and to understand the critical interests of both sides to “determine whether or not they conflict with one another.”
“The Taiwan doctrine has not changed at all from the very beginning,” Biden said, referring to the continuation of arms sales to Taiwan to defend against possible attacks from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.
Biden said the two would discuss fair trade and China’s relations with other countries in the region, among other issues.
The US has always been looking for competition instead of conflict, Biden said, adding that he made this point in meetings with Xi prior to becoming US president.
A White House official on Wednesday said that Biden would work with partners in the G20 summit to “lay the foundations of a more sustainable and inclusive global economy,” to support US families and the economies of vulnerable countries.
In a recorded interview with the 60 Minutes television program that aired on Sept. 18, Biden told host Scott Pelley that the US would defend Taiwan “if in fact there was an unprecedented attack.”
It was the fourth time Biden has made such public comments, although each time it was followed by a clarification from administration officials that could be interpreted as walking back the commitment.
The US has repeatedly said that it would follow the Taiwan Relations Act and provide Taiwan with the necessary military capabilities to defend itself.
The act was passed in 1979 to maintain commercial, cultural and other unofficial relations between the US and Taiwan after Washington switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing.
Under the act, Washington is required “to provide Taiwan with arms of a defensive character.”
Separately, China has offered Taiwan assistance to combat climate change, Chinese Special Envoy on Climate Change Xie Zhenhua （解振華） said on Wednesday, using environmental policy to bolster its claim to the nation.
“Within the policy of ‘one China,’ we have provided assistance to Taiwan to implement climate policies,” Xie said in a speech to the COP27 climate conference in Egypt.
China has traditionally avoided any mention of Taiwan at such events and vigorously opposed Taipei’s attempts to participate in international forums, including the COP summits. By speaking on behalf of Taiwan at COP27, Xie took a new approach to Beijing’s claim of jurisdiction.
“This shows how China sees the interlinkages between climate and geopolitics,” Belinda Schape, a climate diplomacy researcher at think tank E3G, wrote on Twitter. “National security now part of every aspect — including global climate action!”
Xie was not specific about what assistance China had offered.
In Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that it “strongly condemns the Chinese representative’s blatant lie at this international conference, and his attempt to undermine the sovereignty of this nation.”
The effectiveness of Taiwan’s environmental protection policies was obvious to the international community, and its efforts in that area had “nothing to do with China,” the statement said, adding that Taiwan’s plan to eliminate carbon emissions by 2050 was more ambitious than China’s climate commitments.
The statement criticized China for politicizing the COP27, which it called a “serious venue for the international community to jointly face the challenge of climate change,” and its “years of malicious obstruction of Taiwan’s participation” in the framework.
The ministry “hopes the international community will take concrete actions to recognize Taiwan’s contribution to combating climate change, support Taiwan’s participation in the negotiation process of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement, and allow Taiwan to make more contributions to global net zero emissions,” the statement said.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg and AFP
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
