Xi warned Biden during summit that Beijing will reunify Taiwan with China
NBCDec 30, 2023
Report: Xi Told Biden That China Plans to Reunify Taiwan
Image copyright: Office of the President of the United States [via Wikimedia Commons]
The Facts
NBC News reported on Wednesday that China's Xi Jinping allegedly warned Pres. Joe Biden assertively that Beijing intends to take Taiwan — preferably in a peaceful manner — as they met last month during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.
According to the two current and one former US official briefed on the meeting who spoke to the outlet, the Chinese leader further told Biden that US intelligence claims that he plans to reunify the island with mainland China in 2025 or 2027 are wrong, as no time frame has been set yet.
The Spin
Republican narrative
It turns out that the alleged "constructive and productive discussions" between China's strongman and Joe Biden in San Francisco weren't as reasonable as the White House had sought to describe. Actually, Xi Jinping threatened to invade Taiwan to complete his goal to annex the island on American soil and right in the face of the US president. Biden's foreign policy weakness is on full display.
Democratic narrative
Though China hawks have irresponsibly claimed that Xi's reported statement would amount to a declaration of war, the PRC leader has, in fact, lowered tensions as he asserted to Biden that Beijing has no plans to change the status quo of Taiwan anytime soon. China's willingness to reunify with Taiwan isn't something new at all — and this policy has underwritten decades of peace and regional stability.