US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in Bali, Indonesia on November 14 for their first face-to-face meeting since President Biden took office.
In it, Biden declared that the United States’ “one China policy” has not changed, that he opposes any unilateral change of the status quo by either party, and that the world has an interest in maintaining peace. and stability in the Taiwan Strait.
He also conveyed the US’s objections to China’s increasingly aggressive and coercive actions towards Taiwan, which undermine peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the broader region and endanger global prosperity.
Given these expressions of the US president, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Taiwan (MOFA) public a statement expressing “its appreciation and sincere thanks to President Biden for publicly re-stating the US’s strong support for maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and its commitment to Taiwan’s security during the his meeting with the Chinese leader.”
Official statement from the White House on the meeting between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping
The statement added that “since taking office, the Biden administration has repeatedly reiterated its strong commitment to Taiwan’s security. Since August, she has underlined the common position of the international community to preserve peace and stability across the straits through statements issued individually or jointly with like-minded nations at various international events.”
A bilateral meeting between the leaders of the US and Australia, as well as a trilateral meeting between the leaders of the US, Japan and the Republic of Korea, reaffirmed the importance of maintaining peace and stability through of the Taiwan Strait.
“At this critical time, when authoritarian nations are brazenly challenging the international order, Taiwan will continue to actively bolster its self-defense capabilities and deepen its security partnership with the United States,” MOFA said.
The statement ends by saying that “Taiwan will also closely cooperate with like-minded countries to jointly counter the coercion of authoritarian regimes; safeguard peace and stability along the Taiwan Strait; ensure a free, open and prosperous Indo-Pacific; and uphold the rules-based international order.”
