President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to meet face-to-face during their highly anticipated two-hour phone call, according to the White House.
A senior administration official who joined Biden in the Oval Office for the pair’s fifth call, their first since March, described the conversation as “substantive,” “in-depth,” and ”candid.” But amid China’s furor over reports House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to travel to Taiwan during her Asia trip, she said the discussion turned “direct” and “honest” when it broached the self-governing island.
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In response to China’s post-call warning that the U.S. is playing “with fire” regarding Taiwan, the official said Xi deployed “similar language” with Biden “back in November.”
“I’m not going to get into parsing the various metaphors that the PRC regularly tends to use on these issues,” she added, abbreviating the People’s Republic of China.
The official insisted Biden still believed the U.S. can collaborate with China on climate change and health security, despite disagreement over Taiwan and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“It’s important for the United States and China to work together on interest areas where our interests align, even when we have substantial differences or engaged in competition in a number of different areas,” she said. “This is what responsible nations do.”
Biden and Xi also spoke about “the need to resolve the cases of American citizens who are wrongfully detained or subjected to exit bans in China, as well as long-standing concerns about human rights,” on the mutually sought call, according to the official. Biden additionally did not preview “any potential steps he might take” related to removing tariffs, she said.
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White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre did not provide any more details with respect to a Biden-Xi in-person meeting or whether they talked about the origins of COVID-19.
