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Xi Jinping said the US wants China to attack Taiwan
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Chinese President Xi Jinping told European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that Washington was trying to incite Beijing into attacking Taiwan, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Chinese leader also issued the warning to national authorities in his own country, one person said.
Xi issued the warning in a meeting with von der Leyen in April 2023, which was described to the Financial Times by several people. He said the US was trying to trick China into invading Taiwan, but that he wouldn’t take the bait. Another person said they had issued similar warnings to his employees.
The comments provide insight into Xi’s thinking on Taiwan – the thorniest issue in history. US-China relations.
Some Chinese academics and retired military officials have alleged that Washington is trying to provoke Beijing by supplying weapons to Taiwan and promoting other measures to draw China into a military confrontation.
Speaking at the Asia Society in January, Cui Tiankai, a former Chinese ambassador to Washington, said China “would not fall into the trap that someone might be setting for us,” in a veiled reference to the US.
Xi’s remark to von der Leyen is the first known instance of him claiming a foreign leader. Xi also said that a conflict with the US would destroy many of China’s achievements and undermine its goal of achieving “great rejuvenation” by 2049.
“If Xi genuinely believes that the US actively seeks conflict with China over Taiwan, then concerns that Xi has created an information vacuum or is getting poor advice from subordinates are, worryingly, true,” said Jude Blanchette, China expert at CSIS. a reflection group.
The revelation comes at a time when tensions are rising in the Taiwan Strait. China responded to Lai Ching-te’s inauguration as Taiwan’s new president in May with major military exercises around the island. Beijing described Lai as a “dangerous separatist”.
Washington has an obligation to help Taiwan provide its own defense under the Taiwan Relations Act. But the Biden administration has long stressed that it does not support Taiwan independence and opposes unilateral changes to the status quo.
Chinese anxiety about US intentions has increased in recent years, as have US concerns about assertive Chinese military activity around Taiwan.
A Chinese academic said that Washington was “actively encouraging independence forces in Taiwan” and that the US knew that if it crossed the red line by declaring independence, China would be forced to take military action.
Blanchette said a possible explanation for Xi’s comment was that some subordinates were trying to steer him away from more aggressive policies.
“Whatever the explanation for Xi’s comments, it is clear that the decision-making environment – and the information that feeds it – is being distorted, whether by Xi’s lieutenants or by his own autocratic behavior,” Blanchette said. .
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Bonnie Glaser, a German China expert at the Marshall Fund, said the comment may have been part of China’s attempt to alienate Europe from the US on the Taiwan issue, but it was also possible that Xi believed it.
The Chinese embassy in Washington did not comment on Xi’s remark, but said the US was selling weapons to Taiwan and supporting “separatist independence forces”.
Von der Leyen’s spokeswoman said she did not reveal details about private meetings. The White House did not comment.
Additional reporting by Henry Foy in Brussels