WASHINGTON: US trade restrictions on technology and Taiwan caused President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping to argue during a Tuesday phone discussion. Despite this, they attempted to diffuse the situation as two high-ranking US officials were scheduled to visit Beijing soon.
The phone call represented the first face-to-face communication between the two leaders since their November meeting in California, which witnessed a noticeable thawing of the long-standing competition between the two biggest economies in the world, if not of their tone.
With Secretary of State Antony Blinken scheduled to visit China in the upcoming weeks, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is scheduled to depart on Wednesday and travel to Guangzhou, a city in the south that symbolizes China’s manufacturing prowess, as well as Beijing.
“To control tensions, correct misperceptions, and avert unintentional conflict, intense rivalry necessitates aggressive diplomacy. And making this call is one method to accomplish that,” a US official told reporters during a briefing.
According to the official, the two leaders were forthright about their strong opinions and the talks were not intended to settle conflicts. Xi charged that Biden’s broad prohibition on high-tech exports was an attempt by the US to put the economy at risk.
Chinese state media quoted Xi as saying, “We will not sit idly by if the United States insists on suppressing China’s high-tech development and depriving China of its legitimate right to development.”
The United States “will continue to take necessary actions to prevent advanced US technologies from being used to undermine our national security, without unduly limiting trade and investment,” the White House said in response to Biden’s rejection of his request.
The White House stated that before to President-elect Lai Ching-te’s inauguration on May 20, Biden put pressure on Xi to guarantee “peace and stability” across the Taiwan Strait.
