Biden clarifies that he does not encourage Taiwan independence after meeting with Xi

The president of USA, Joe Biden, clarified this Tuesday that his Government does not encourage the independence of Taiwan, after a slip in which he expressed an opinion contrary to the official position of the White House.

Speaking to the press during a visit to New Hampshire, Biden first said that Taiwan is “independent” and “makes its own decisions,” after holding a virtual meeting with Chinese President Xi on Monday – Tuesday in Beijing. Jinping.

This stance contrasts with the official one that all US governments have maintained in the last five decades: respect for the so-called “one China” policy, which Beijing imposes as the basis of its ties with any country.

Such a policy means that the only Chinese government that Washington must recognize is the one based in Beijing, which distances it from the independence aspirations of Taiwan.

Before taking off back to Washington after his visit to New Hampshire, Biden rectified his statements and stressed that the United States “is not going to change its policy at all.”

“We are not encouraging independence, we are encouraging them to do exactly what the Taiwan (US Relations with) Act requires,” Biden stressed.

According to the White House, during his meeting with Xi, Biden reiterated Washington’s commitment to the “one China” policy, although he specified that it will also be guided by the Law on Relations with Taiwan, through which the US supplies equipment. warfare to the island.

This issue has generated numerous frictions between the two powers, to which must be added the recent Chinese military maneuvers near the island or Washington’s support for a “robust” participation of Taiwan in international organizations.

Regarding the tensions in the South China Sea, Biden stressed that the United States will not enter Chinese “territorial waters”, but will not be “intimidated” in terms of its freedom of navigation in what it considers international waters, and said The same applies to airspace.

In October, a record number of Chinese fighter jets entered Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), followed by the passage of a US destroyer through the Taiwan Strait, which was condemned by Beijing.