Joe Biden to discuss 'red lines' over Taiwan with China's Xi at G20 Summit in Indonesia

As the G20 meeting is scheduled for next week in Indonesia, US President Joe Biden is expected to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping for the first time, since the former became President in 2021. The two have met before, when Joe Biden was vice-president during the Obama administration. Biden has said that he will discuss "red lines" with his Chinese counterpart, in other words, how to manage the competition without it descending into a conflict. “Look, I’m not willing to make any fundamental concessions,” Biden said, as per a report from South China Morning Post. 

“What I want to do with him when we talk is lay out what each of our red lines are, understand what he believes to be in the critical national interests of China, what I know to be in the critical interests in the United States, and to determine whether or not they conflict with one another, and if they do, how to resolve and how to work it out," said Biden, laying out what his goal for the meeting is. Speaking on Taiwan, the US President said, "I’m gonna have that conversation with him. The Taiwan doctrine has not changed at all." US policy on Taiwan is often misconstrued as it does not recognise Beijing's claim over Taipei but instead acknowledges that China has made that claim. US policy does not support Taiwanese independence as well. Currently, the US has imposed export restrictions on semiconductor technology to hinder the growth of China's domestic semiconductor industry and to lock China out from advanced semiconductors. This will be an issue that the Chinese side will bring up. 

Xi and Biden's first meeting

According to the Economist, Joe Biden first met Xi Jinping when the latter was appointed vice president of China back in 2008. Unlike the vice president of the US, the vice president of China is generally expected to be the next president. So when Xi Jinping became the president, the US side knew very little about him and how he perceives the world. A dinner was arranged between the two vice presidents, Joe Biden's task was to know more about the future head of China and understand how he perceives the world. 

For most of the dinner, Xi remained quite guarded and revealed very little, however, he did speak about the collapse of the USSR with sadness. In that meeting, Biden knew Xi was going to become the next president of the US, however, neither Xi nor Biden knew that Biden too would become the president of his nation one day. During the meeting, Xi reportedly asked Biden if he could describe America for him, and Biden replied by saying "possibilities''.