Why China-Taiwan Relations Are So Tense Council on Foreign Relations

what is the current relationship between china and the united states 2021

In his meeting with Wang Xiaohong, the two reviewed commitments made by the two sides to collaborate on counter-narcotics efforts, in particular the disruption of the trade and manufacturing of synthetic drugs such as fentanyl, one of the breakthroughs made during the Xi-Biden meeting in November. Meanwhile, according to the readout from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wang once again reiterated that Taiwan is a “red line” issue for China and that the US should continue to abide by the one-China principle and the three joint China-US communiqués. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has met with President Xi Jinping, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong during a three-day visit to China, holding “in-depth, substantive, and constructive discussions”. In a regular press briefing, Chinese Foreign Spokesperson Wang Wenbin stated that “China opposes the unilateral imposition of tariffs which violate (World Trade Organization) rules, and will take all necessary actions to protect its legitimate rights”, according to CNN. The review claims to have found that the Section 301 tariffs have been “effective in encouraging the PRC to take steps toward eliminating some of its technology transfer-related acts, policies, and practices” while reducing exposure to US individuals and businesses to these actions.

Following the 2024 Taiwan presidential election, Washington sent a delegation of former government officials to Taiwan to congratulate President-Elect Lai Ching-te and incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen for the DPP’s win and to celebrate the preservation of Taiwan’s democracy. The first in-person meeting between top Biden administration officials and Chinese officials, in Anchorage, Alaska, reflects deep disagreements between the two sides and ends without a joint statement. In the months after the meeting, the Biden administration continues some Trump administration policies, although it places more emphasis on coordinating its actions with allies. It maintains tariffs on Chinese imports, sanctions Chinese officials over policies in Hong Kong and Xinjiang, blacklists dozens of Chinese companies, and expands a Trump-era ban on American investment in Chinese firms with ties to the military. In his first speech to Congress, in April, President Biden stresses the importance of boosting investment in U.S. infrastructure and technology to compete with China.

  1. He also stated that the city “will continue to create a market-oriented, legal and international first-class business environment”.
  2. According to the BIS’ press release, the companies were added to the Entity List because they are “contributing to Russia’s military and/or defense industrial base, supporting PRC military modernization, and facilitating or engaging in human rights abuses in Burma and in the People’s Republic of China”.
  3. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs readout noted that the meeting occurred at Blinken’s request and that both sides agreed to maintain communication and further implement the understandings reached by Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping at the San Francisco meeting in November 2023.
  4. Wary of espionage, Washington has raised concerns that U.S. companies that use Chinese technology could be putting U.S. national security at risk.
  5. The anticipated meeting was raised several times over the course of the trip, despite a Foreign Ministry spokesperson stating that the road to San Francisco “would not be a smooth one”.

Could war erupt over Taiwan?

Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Beijing, raising fresh concerns over a worsening of U.S.-China relations already strained by U.S. support for Taiwan and trade frictions. The leaders’ first formal meeting since Biden took office is held virtually and lasts more than three hours. The United States and China have one of the world’s most important and complex bilateral relationships. Since 1949, the countries have experienced periods of both tension and cooperation over issues including trade, climate change, and Taiwan. The optimism that accompanied China’s entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) twenty years ago has vanished as Beijing continues to embrace state-led development, pouring subsidies into targeted industries to the detriment of U.S. and foreign companies. Though U.S. consumers urban towers scalping strategy have benefited from the flood of cheaper goods from China, millions of Americans have lost their jobs due to import competition.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will soon visit China – after an American business delegation met Mr Xi last week – and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to make a trip in the coming weeks. Next month, Taiwan will inaugurate its president-elect, William Lai Ching-te, whom Beijing has called a “troublemaker” and “separatist.” The meeting was widely viewed as an effort to cool tensions between Beijing and Washington after an American warplane shot down an alleged Chinese spy balloon off the US coast last year. Mr Daly emphasised that despite both readouts placing a focus on co-operation and conversation, “this is not a sign of a thaw” between the two superpowers. President Biden did not shrink from his administration’s backing of the Taiwanese government, according to the White House summary. Mr Xi stressed that Washington’s support of Taiwan and pursuit of sanctions against China was “not ‘risk reduction’ but risk creation”, the summary says.

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what is the current relationship between china and the united states 2021

These issues and the hypersonic missile arms race are new mutual vulnerabilities that may threaten crisis stability. It will not be easy or quick to mitigate these risks, but China’s possible willingness to begin serious talks in these areas as well as the rest of the Biden-Xi summit menu are the metrics to determine if a framework for managing a competitive coexistence is possible. Finally, on the existential question of strategic stability, the asymmetry of some 3,750 U.S. nuclear weapons to China’s roughly 350 weapons have long precluded arms reduction deals. But on more urgent issues of new risk reduction measures, the upcoming, top-level military-to-military talks will be a test of Beijing’s seriousness.

This marked their final meeting before Biden leaves office, as President-elect Donald Trump’s administration prepares to take over in January. Xi emphasized China’s commitment to maintaining stable, healthy ties with the US, acknowledging past tensions but expressing readiness to work with the Trump administration to manage differences and expand cooperation. Analysis of U.S.-China conflict has often focused on China’s growing economic strength and the United States’ role as the keystone of the global order. But Andrei Lungu, president of the Romanian Institute for the Study of the Asia-Pacific, argues not to forget the ideological elements of the clash between the world’s largest capitalist democracy and its largest communist dictatorship. First, China’s leaders have committed to increasing what they call China’s “discourse power”—the ability to make the rest of the world listen to their views—and shouting loudly is one way to be heard.

In short, Beijing may be seeking to posture itself in anticipation of a new initiative to end — or at least pause — the war in Ukraine. China is a formidable great power and a far stronger challenger to U.S. power than the Soviet Union ever was. But the United States has strengths in technology, accumulated wealth, geographic position, alliance relationships, military assets, and soft power that China is unlikely to surpass. The U.S. message must be that, while we hold dear our own commitment to democracy and reserve the right to speak out against major human rights abuses, such as those against Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, the United States does not seek to undermine the internal authority of the Chinese Communist Party. Rather, Washington’s interest lies in influencing the external policies of China where they impact U.S. interests and those of our allies.

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Following this, at a press briefing on May 11, the US Department of State Spokesperson stated that “our policy towards Taiwan has not changed” and trading and execution services “we do not support Taiwan independence”. Without this latest breakthrough, many of the companies identified were facing blanket delisting in 2024. China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) has placed two US defense companies – Lockheed Martin Corporation and Raytheon Missiles & Defense, a subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies – on its List of Unreliable Entities in retaliation for their supply of arms to Taiwan.

In October 2022, the US Department of Commerce implemented new export controls on advanced computing and semiconductors, requiring companies to receive a license to export US-made advanced computing and semiconductor products to China. The climate talks also come after a series of extreme weather events in both countries in 2023, adding to the urgency for bilateral cooperation and consensus on climate change. On Sunday, China set a new heat record of tezos news analysis and price prediction 52.2C in Xinjiang Province and has experienced a series of severe heat waves and flooding in recent weeks and months. The US has seen similarly extreme weather events this year, including flooding, heat waves, and the adverse impact of wildfires in neighboring Canada. According to the readout of the meeting from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), Minister Wang expressed “serious concerns about US Section 301 tariffs on China, semiconductor policies, two-way investment restrictions, discriminatory subsidies, and sanctions on Chinese companies”. Meanwhile, in the readout from the US Department of Commerce (DOC), Secretary Raimondo “underscored the importance of leveling the playing field for US workers and businesses and ensuring the fair and transparent treatment of US companies in China.

Last month, citing national security, Washington reduced the types of semiconductors that American companies could sell to China, further tightening a sweeping set of export controls first introduced in October 2022. With President Joe Biden’s presidential term ending in a few weeks, expectations for his final meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping were modest, especially considering the broader frictions in U.S.-China relations. Biden and Xi met on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Peru on November 16. The meeting highlighted the importance of maintaining open communications channels to manage the two powers’ many differences. Since the renewal of US-China relations in early 1979, the Taiwan issue remained a major source of contention. Its passage prompted Deng to begin to view the United States as an insincere partner willing to abandon its prior commitments to China.370 The expanding relationship that followed normalization was threatened in 1981 by PRC objections to the level of US arms sales to the Republic of China on Taiwan.

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