Xi Jinping warns Joe Biden: don’t play with fire over Taiwan

Xi Jinping has issued a stern warning to Joe Biden as the two agreed an in-person summit during a two hour long phone call.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping warned Joe Biden not to “play with fire” in a frank exchange held before a trip to Taiwan by House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi that some experts warn could spark military crisis.

In a more than two-hour phone call overnight on Thursday – the fifth since Mr Biden was elected President – the leaders discussed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the international food and energy crises and the Covid-19 pandemic, along with tussling over the nature of the China-US relationship. 

Mr Xi told his American counterpart that his administration was wrong to define the US-China relationship as one of “strategic competition” and said Washington was “misreading” Beijing.

China’s leader said Beijing and Washington needed to “work for de-escalation of regional hotspots”, before giving a firm warning on America’s Taiwan policy, which, he said, must be informed by “the firm will of the more than 1.4 billion Chinese people”.

“The public opinion cannot be defied. Those who play with fire will perish by it,” Mr Xi said.

Ms Pelosi, who would be the highest-ranking elected US official to visit Taiwan in 25 years, on Friday was set to begin a trip to Asia, which will take her to Japan, Indonesia and Singapore.

Beijing has made repeated threats about the trip to Taiwan, which has not been confirmed but has been widely reported.

China’s defence ministry on Thursday night issued Beijing’s sixth warning, hours before the Xi-Biden call.

“Action is the most powerful language,” said Wu Qian, a ­defence ministry spokesman.

That warning was issued as Taiwan staged its annual Han Kuang series of military exercises, five days of live-fire war games held to test its combat readiness in the event of a Chinese invasion.

This year’s drills have been watched by a PLA Navy acoustic surveillance vessel and Chinese drones and come as incursions by Chinese military aircraft into Taiwan’s air defence zone are on track to hit a new record this year.

Bonnie Glaser and Zack Cooper, Washington-based experts on US-Chinese security, warned that Taiwan could be on the cusp of a crisis.

“President Xi Jinping is hoping to get an unprecedented third term later this fall and cannot ­afford to appear weak,” the two experts wrote in The New York Times.

“A single spark could ignite this combustible situation into a crisis that escalates to military conflict. Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan could provide it.”

Senior figures in the Biden ­administration are divided on the Speaker’s potential visit.

A senior official at the White House said in a briefing held after the Xi-Biden call the unconfirmed trip was “her decision”.

Despite the Taiwan friction, both Beijing and Washington stressed the phone call had been constructive.

“Both presidents viewed their call as candid and in-depth. They agreed to stay in touch and instructed the two teams to keep up communication and co-operation,” Beijing said in an account ­­of the conversation issued by China’s foreign ministry.

The White House also indicate the meeting had been more constructive than previous exchanges.

Along with disagreements over Taiwan and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the two leaders had a detailed discussion on “areas where the two countries can work together”, in particular on climate change, health security and counter-narcotics.

“The two leaders very specifically tasked their teams to follow up on a number of these areas. There was an exchange at the end about how much work they’d created for their teams in terms of following up on the specific ­pieces,” a senior White House ­official said.

Preparations are also under way for the two leaders to hold their first in-person meeting since Mr Biden’s election.