Business Recorder
BEIJING: China’s President Xi Jinping warned US President Donald Trump on Thursday that mishandling the countries’ disagreements over Taiwan could push China-US relations to a “dangerous place,” as the two leaders met for a closely watched summit. Xi’s remarks on Taiwan, the democratically governed island claimed by Beijing, came in a closed-door meeting of the leaders of the world’s two largest economies that ran more than two hours, China’s foreign ministry said. They represented a stark - if not unprecedented - warning during a pomp-filled occasion that was otherwise friendly and relaxed, although the US summary of the talks made no mention of Taiwan. According to Chinese state media Xinhua, Xi, referring to Taiwan, told Trump: “If handled poorly, the two countries could collide or even enter into conflict, pushing the entire China-US relationship into an extremely dangerous place.” Taiwan has long been a flashpoint in the US-China relationship, with Beijing refusing to rule out the use of military force to gain control of the island and the United States bound by law to provide Taipei with the means to defend itself. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is with Trump in China, confirmed to NBC News that the issue of Taiwan was discussed, saying the Chinese “always raise it on their side, we always make clear our position and we move on to the other topics.” The US summary of the talks focused on the leaders’ shared desire to reopen the key waterway of the Strait of Hormuz, effectively closed due to the Iran war, and Xi’s apparent interest in buying American oil to reduce China’s dependence on Middle East supplies. With Trump’s approval ratings dented by a war with Iran that shows no signs of abating, the first visit by a US president to China in nearly a decade has taken on added significance as he searches for economic wins. “There are those who say this may be the biggest summit ever,” Trump told Xi in brief opening remarks, after a ceremony that featured an honour guard and throngs of children waving flowers and flags at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People. Xi told Trump that preparatory negotiations between US and Chinese economic and trade teams in South Korea on Wednesday had reached “balanced and positive outcomes”, China’s foreign ministry said in a summary. The talks aimed to maintain a fragile trade truce struck when the leaders last met in October, where Trump suspended triple-digit tariffs on Chinese goods and Xi backed away from choking global supplies of vital rare earths. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who led Wednesday’s talks, said he expected progress on establishing mechanisms to support future bilateral trade and investment, and an announcement about large Chinese orders for Boeing aircraft. China’s red lines Trump expected Xi to raise the thorny issue of US arms sales to Taiwan, he said earlier this week. With the status of a USD14 billion package awaiting Trump’s approval still unclear, China has reiterated its strong opposition to the sales. “US policy on the issue of Taiwan is unchanged as of today,” Rubio told NBC. Trump did not respond to a reporter’s shouted question whether the leaders had discussed Taiwan as he posed with Xi later for photos at the Temple of Heaven, a UNESCO World Heritage Site where emperors once prayed for good harvests. Taipei said there was nothing surprising from the summit and that China’s military pressure is the real threat to peace. Underscoring its outsized importance to the US economy, Taiwan, an island of 23 million people, is the United States’ fourth-largest trading partner, behind China, which has about 1.4 billion people.
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