Report: Xi Asked Biden to Change Language on Taiwan

WASHINGTON/BEIJING/TAIPEI (Reuters) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping asked U.S. President Joe Biden last year to change the language the United States uses when discussing its position on Taiwanese independence, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the private conversation.

During last November’s Biden-Xi meeting near San Francisco, Xi and his aides asked Biden and his team to tweak the language in U.S. official statements.
China wanted the U.S. to say “we oppose Taiwan independence,” rather than the current version, which is that the United States “does not support” independence for Taiwan, said the people, who requested anonymity to speak about private diplomatic exchanges they participated in or were briefed on.
Xi’s aides have repeatedly followed up and made the requests in the months since, according to two U.S. officials and another person familiar with the exchanges.
The U.S. has declined to make the change.
The White House responded to a request for comment with a statement that repeated the line that Washington does not support Taiwan independence. “The Biden-Harris administration has been consistent on our long-standing One China policy,” the statement read.
China’s foreign ministry said: “You should ask this question to the U.S. government. China’s position on the Taiwan issue is clear and consistent.”
The defeated Republic of China government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong’s communists.
The Republic of China remains Taiwan’s formal name and the government says it has no plans to change that given they are already a sovereign, independent state and Beijing has no right to claim Taiwan as its own.
For several years, Chinese diplomats have pushed the United States to make changes to how it refers to Taiwan’s status, which remains the most sensitive area in U.S.-China relations. The unusually direct and renewed push at the leader level has not been reported previously.
The United States severed official relations with the government in Taipei in 1979 but is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself. China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control.
It was not clear why Xi chose to raise the issue with Biden, but he has made opposition to Taiwan independence a focus of his time in office and China’s military has significantly ramped up its activities around the island in recent years.