Taiwanese Envoy Optimistic About Biden-Xi Talks Easing Tensions In Asia-Pacific

Morris Chang, the founder of the microchip giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, also suggested the meeting could help to promote economic stability and reliable supply chains.

바카라�You don't have to be a leader to know that if there is no peace, there is no supply chain to start with,바카라� Chang said at a news conference at the close of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

Chang said the Biden-Xi meeting was a 바카라�good바카라� one, pointing to their agreement to resume high-level military communications.

바카라�It should help reduce the tensions between the U.S. and China, and it should increase stability of Taiwan Strait,바카라� Chang said. 

Taiwan, a self-governed island of 23 million people, remains the thorniest issue in U.S.-China relations, as Beijing and Washington clash over its sovereignty. Tensions have flared in recent years as Beijing increases military pressure on the island, which it claims to be part of Chinese territory and vows to seize by force if necessary to achieve national unification.

Washington has a security pact with Taiwan to deter any armed attack from Beijing and has stepped up its support for the island. The U.S. insists the matter must be solved peacefully, without taking a side.

It was a high priority when Xi and Biden met Wednesday for four hours at an estate outside San Francisco in their first face-to-face meeting in a year.

Xi sought assurances from Biden that the U.S. would not support Taiwan's independence and requested that Washington support China's peaceful reunification with Taiwan. 

바카라�China will realize reunification, and this is unstoppable,바카라� the Chinese president said.

Biden, meanwhile, urged Xi to refrain from military exercises in and around the Taiwan Strait. 

Since September 2020, the Chinese military has been sending warships and warplanes near the island on a near-daily basis. In August 2022, Beijing fired missiles toward the island and blockaded it for days after Nancy Pelosi, then the House speaker, visited the island despite Beijing's objections.

Biden told Xi that Washington remains unchanged in its policy toward Taiwan and that it opposes any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side. 

바카라�We expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means,바카라� Biden said.

Sun Yun, director of the China program at the Washington-based Stimson Center think tank, said Washington won't accept Beijing's new demand to support peaceful reunification.

바카라�This is categorically different from the U.S. goal that the resolution of the Taiwan issue must be peaceful, which does not impose a precondition on what the outcome will look like, only that it must be peaceful,바카라� Sun said. 바카라�This is a request we have seen the Chinese interlocutors floating around recently. It is improbable for the U.S. to accept it."

In San Francisco, Chang represented Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in attending the summit because Beijing opposed Tsai being present. 

Chang, representing Taiwan at the APEC summit for the seventh time, said he was tasked by Tsai to send the message that Taiwan is committed to regional peace and prosperity and that the island will work with its partners to control climate change, build more resilient supply chains and reduce the digital divide. 

바카라�I think I've done it 바카라� that I tried my best to convey the four messages," Chang said.

Chang said he had 바카라�many interactions바카라� with Biden, thought there was no formal talk, and said he spoke with senior US officials, including Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Lael Brainard, Biden's economic adviser. 

Chang said he also had 바카라�serious바카라� discussions with at least half of the leaders of the 21 economies in the region, including Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, on issues such as regional peace, economic development and supply chains, but that he didn't speak with Xi during the summit.