Xi warns Biden against US support for Taiwan and attempts to strangle Chinese technological development

The presidents of the United States, Joe Biden, and China, Xi Jinping, addressed by telephone this Tuesday the main issues on the bilateral agenda and others of global scope in which they maintain notable differences, such as Beijing's support for Russia in Ukraine or security in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait. The call, according to Beijing at Biden's request, is the first since the contacts that both maintained in November of last year in Woodside (California) and a year earlier in Bali (Indonesia). “The relationship is beginning to stabilize […]. On the other hand, the negative factors of the relationship have also been growing, and this requires attention on both sides,” says the official statement from Beijing, much more belligerent than that of its counterpart regarding the red lines that China will not allow to be crossed. : Taiwan and free technological development, against which it will not accept restrictions, such as attempts to ban the use of TikTok in the United States.

The last call between the two leaders was in July 2022. This year, an election year in the United States, it is not foreseeable that their annual meeting will be repeated, although contacts do continue at the ministerial level, as demonstrated by the upcoming visit of the secretary of the Treasury, Janet Yellen, to Beijing, who will be followed by Secretary of State, Antony Blinken. With the purpose of “managing tensions, addressing misperceptions and preventing involuntary conflicts,” as a senior White House official explained the day before in a call with journalists, the two countries are committed to areas of cooperation in which interests are reciprocal, such as the fight against drugs, the challenges of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the fluidity of supply chains and issues related to the climate crisis.

Indeed, according to the White House statement after the call, Biden and Xi “reviewed and encouraged progress on key issues discussed at the Woodside summit, including counternarcotics cooperation, continued military-to-military communication, talks to address risks related to AI and ongoing efforts on climate change and people-to-people exchanges.”

The United States expects “substantive action from China in the fight against narcotics to confront the escalation of illicit trafficking,” the official explained. Since the Woodside summit, Washington has noted that Beijing has applied “some initial measures to restrict and interrupt the flow of certain chemical precursors, [necesarios] to produce illicit synthetic drugs,” he said in relation to fentanyl, whose addiction is causing a very serious public health crisis in the United States, with more than 70,000 deaths a year. The visit of a US delegation to China in January and the new agreement approved in 2023, based on two UN documents to combat precursor trafficking, are part of these common efforts.

Beijing belligerence

Beijing points to “peace, stability and credibility” as pillars of the bilateral relationship. But when it comes to Taiwan, a matter of national policy for China, the official statement takes a clearly belligerent stance, compared to the neutral tone of the White House. “President Xi emphasized that the Taiwan issue is the first red line that should not be crossed in bilateral relations. Faced with the separatist activities of 'Taiwan independence' and the external encouragement and support for them,” the text says, referring to Washington, “China is not going to sit idly by.”

Xi urged Washington to translate President Biden's commitment not to support “Taiwan independence” into concrete action. Meanwhile, the White House has reaffirmed the “one country, two systems” principle, with emphasis on peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, “especially given the upcoming presidential inauguration in May in Taiwan.” Another issue of contention was Washington's concern over Beijing's support for Russia's war against Ukraine and its efforts to help Russia rebuild its defense industrial base.

The bilateral dialogue on “the risks and security challenges posed by advanced forms of AI”, on which Beijing recently co-sponsored a landmark resolution at the UN, will continue in the coming weeks. In substantial agreement, Washington differs on the disruptive potential of technology, as a possible tool to interfere in the November elections, and China, on any restrictions on free development.

The statements from both parties are radically opposite. According to Washington, “the president emphasized that the United States will continue to take necessary measures to prevent advanced American technologies from being used to undermine our national security, without unduly limiting trade and investment,” referring to the adoption of measures necessary to prevent For example, cyber attacks on critical infrastructure and even possible interference in the electoral process. Beijing raises the tone to the point of warning: “If the United States is willing to seek mutually beneficial cooperation and share the dividends of China's development, it will always find the door open; but if it remains firm in containing China's high-tech development and depriving it of its legitimate right to development, China will not sit back and watch.”

Advance the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, defend human rights, especially in Hong Kong, where Washington is concerned about “the erosion of its autonomy,” and Xinjiang, and denounce unfair Chinese practices, “unfair trade policies that harm the American workers and families”, have been other aspects addressed in the conversation. Biden would also have asked Xi to release Americans “unjustly” detained in China or prohibited from leaving the country.

Relations between the United States and China move in fits and starts. But they move forward. Yellen's visit to Beijing, the second since the post-pandemic reopening of the Asian giant, will be another gesture of apparent detente and dialogue between the two superpowers in the economic field. Last week, in a gesture of good intentions, Xi Jinping received a large group of American businessmen and academics in the Chinese capital, among whom were Stephen Schwarzman, president of the Blackstone investment fund, and Cristiano Amon, head of the semiconductor firm Qualcomm. At the meeting there were broad smiles, far above the formal sobriety that Beijing usually shows, and a message from the Chinese president: “The relationship cannot return to the old days, but it can embrace a brighter future.”

At the same time, the relationship suffers setbacks from time to time. Last Friday, the Biden Administration gave a new twist to the rules aimed at hindering China's access to artificial intelligence chips and cutting-edge semiconductor manufacturing tools for reasons, according to the United States, of national security. At the end of March, it imposed sanctions, along with the United Kingdom, against alleged Chinese hackers for their participation in a cyberespionage campaign that supposedly affected millions of people, and whom London and Washington consider to be an arm of the state security apparatus. Chinese. Beijing has also forcefully rejected the US proposal to ban TikTok, the popular video application owned by a company from the Asian giant. China considers that this challenge, which involves trying to appr
opriate something good that belongs to others, follows a “gangster logic,” according to a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman.

Among the greatest advances achieved since the meeting of both leaders in November in San Francisco is the resumption of high-level military talks between both superpowers. The first meeting of defense commanders from Beijing and Washington at the Pentagon took place at the beginning of January. The outlook for 2024 is very different from that of a year ago when, at this point, ties were in tatters after Washington shot down an alleged Chinese spy stratospheric balloon that was crossing US territory without permission. The dynamics have changed. The ground that both leaders have laid seems destined to ensure stability in the coming months. In Beijing, a certain feeling of waiting prevails in this super election year. While awaiting news about the next tenant of the White House, the Government has focused on reactivating the economy, affected by the slowdown in the real estate sector, by promoting new technology industries, and multiplying its opening messages to recover the lost splendor to international investors.

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