Taiwan is expected to be high on the agenda when US President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping meet next week – their first in-person meeting since Mr Biden took office in 2020.
The much-awaited meeting comes at a time when relations between the two superpowers have soured.
It has been bolstered by Beijing’s claims over self-ruled Taiwan and its growing aggression in Asia.
The US has responded by restricting access to computer chip technology.
That has affected China’s export-driven economy, which uses the technology to make and sell everything from phones to electric cars.
Given the recent escalation in tensions and rhetoric, the world – and America’s Asian allies such as India, Japan and Australia – will be closely watching Monday’s meeting in Bali ahead of the G20 summit.
Mr Xi has spent most of the pandemic in China and has recently resumed traveling abroad.
“I’m sure we’ll talk about Taiwan and what I want to do with it when we talk about it … what each of our red lines are,” Mr. Biden said at a press conference on Thursday. The White House has confirmed the meeting.
That way they can “determine whether they conflict with each other or not… and if they do, how to resolve and work around it”, he said.
However, he also said he was not prepared to make “any fundamental concessions” on US policy towards Taiwan.
Beijing views the autonomous island as its territory that should be unified with the mainland. But Taiwan considers itself separate.
Mr Biden, unlike previous US presidents, has repeatedly said the US would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack.
But the White House has always walked back its comments, insisting that Washington’s stance of “strategic ambiguity” – whereby it does not commit to defending Taiwan but also does not rule out the option – I have not changed.
Meanwhile, Mr Xi has told the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to “concentrate all energy on fighting the war… and build the ability to win”, according to state media reports earlier this week.
Mr Xi was quoted as saying the military should “strengthen military training to prepare for war” because China was in an “unstable and uncertain” position.
Tensions escalated in August when US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan. China responded with massive military exercises around the island.
The White House on Thursday said it would inform Taiwan of the outcome of the Biden-Xi meeting, with national security adviser Jack Sullivan saying the goal was to make Taiwan feel “safe and comfortable” about US support.
Meanwhile, China’s Foreign Ministry said the United States should work with China to avoid misunderstandings and misunderstandings, adding that while it seeks peace with the United States, the “Taiwan question” should be its top priority. is the center of interests.
At the Chinese Communist Party congress last month, Mr Xi reiterated China’s position on Taiwan where it would “never promise to give up the use of force”.
He said he reserved the right to take “all necessary measures” if “external forces” interfered with China’s claims.
