China hints at Xi-Biden summit in Indonesia

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – China on Thursday hinted at a possible summit between President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Joe Biden in Indonesia next week.

“China attaches importance to the US proposal of the meeting between the two top leaders at the upcoming G20 summit in Bali,” Zhao Lijian, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, said at a regular news conference in Beijing.

Xi and Biden would be in Bali, Indonesia, next week to attend the G20 summit.

“Chinese and US heads of state remain in frequent communication in various ways. The two sides are communicating on the matter (possible Bali meeting),” Chinese daily Global Times quoted Zhao as saying.

Beijing’s statement came after Biden said on Wednesday that he “will not make any fundamental concessions” on Taiwan's defense when he meets Xi at the G20 leaders' summit in Bali.

“I’m not willing to make any fundamental concessions because what I’ve told him in the beginning ... when I was vice president,” Biden told a news conference.

Zhao, however, said the US “should stop blurring, hollowing out and distorting the one-China principle.”

Xi and Biden will meet for the first time face to face in Bali since the US president was inaugurated two years ago. It would also be the first conversation at the highest level since US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi paid an unannounced visit to Taiwan in August triggering massive tensions between the two countries.

Biden would also be meeting Xi first time since the Chinese president was proclaimed as secretary general of the Chinese Communist Party for a historic third term last month.

The US formally recognized China in 1979 and shifted its diplomatic mission from Taipei to Beijing, including Taiwan as part of mainland China – popularly known as the "One-China Policy" as the shift in diplomatic recognition of Beijing was adopted by the UN. However, Taipei has insisted on its independence since 1949.

The Taiwan Relations Act, enacted in 1979, has governed US relations with Taiwan. Bilateral agreements known as the Three Communiques have also influenced ties.