Chinese President Xi Jinping allegedly threatened the United States of America during a call with President Joe Biden on Wednesday.
Biden called Xi to discuss growing tensions between China and Taiwan that has seen the communist country position military resources near the independent island nation.
While the United States government reported the call as constructive, the Chinese state media painted a different image. According to them, President Xi expressed his anger over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s upcoming trip to Taiwan to President Biden, telling him “those who play with fire will get burned. Hope the U.S. side can see this clearly.”
Biden’s own recollection portrayed a much different image of the call. The president posted, “Today I spoke with President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China as part of our efforts to deepen lines of communication, responsibly manage our differences, and address issues of mutual interest.”
The White House’s own readout of the call also showed Biden quickly caving on the issue of Taiwan, ensuring Xi that the United States still supported the One China policy showing the island as under the jurisdiction of mainland China.
“On Taiwan, President Biden underscored that the United States policy has not changed and that the United States strongly opposes unilateral efforts to change the status quo or undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” the readout said.
The call on Thursday morning marked the first time the two world leaders have spoken since March, when they discussed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine shortly after it had begun.
Nancy Pelosi’s planned trip to Taiwan became public earlier this month, leading to Joe Biden publicly pushing back on it out of fear of angering China. Since then Pelosi has refused to back down and even invited Republicans to join her in the diplomatic mission. Do you think Joe should be pushing back harder against China?
