US President Biden discusses Taiwan with Chinese counterpart Xi in effort to avoid 'conflict'

Nusa Dua (Indonesia), November 14

President Joe Biden objected to China’s “coercive and increasingly aggressive actions” toward Taiwan and raised human rights concerns about Beijing’s conduct in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong during his first in-person meeting on Monday with President Xi Jinping, the White House said.

In a statement on the roughly three-hour session, the White House said Biden told Xi that the U.S would “continue to compete vigorously” with China but that “competition should not veer into conflict.” The meeting came as the superpowers aimed to “manage” differences between them as they compete for global influence amid increasing economic and security tensions.

Biden scheduled a news conference later Monday discuss the meeting, which came in the midst of a seven-day, round-the-world trip.

Biden and Xi also agreed that “a nuclear war should never be fought” and can’t be won, “and underscored their opposition to the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine,” the White House said. That was a reference to Russian officials’ thinly-veiled threats to use atomic weapons as its nearly nine-month invasion of Ukraine has faltered.