China’s Xik hoped to give priority to the Taiwan issue in the Biden debate by Reuters

By Yew Lun Tian

BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to use his first virtual meeting with US President Joe Biden to warn the US of “backtracking” on the Taiwan issue, according to Chinese state media editorials printed on Monday.

Xi and Biden will meet almost Tuesday morning in Beijing – Washington on Monday evening – as frictions between countries continue on a number of issues, including trade, technology, Xinjiang and especially Taiwan, an autonomous island claimed by China.

An editorial in China’s China Daily said on Monday that it was likely to announce to Xik Biden that Beijing had decided to “hold a national rally in the near future at all costs.”

State media outlets such as China Daily report on important issues such as China-US relations with the authorities and have been specific in reflecting the priorities of Chinese leaders.

“The Taiwan issue is China’s last red line,” a tabloid published in the ruling Communist Party People’s Daily News on Monday told the Global Times.

“To reduce the risk of a strategic clash between China and the US, the latter must take a step back from the Taiwan dispute and show its extent,” he wrote.

In a call with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blink on Saturday, China’s top diplomat Wang Yi warned Washington to send wrong signals to Taiwan.

Some experts say the importance of China among other points of friction in Taiwan highlights the reluctance to attract arms to the conflict in vain with the US, despite the latest words and actions, including sending an unprecedented number of aircraft to Taiwan’s air defense area.

“Chinese leaders know that China has not completed its modernization and still faces many challenges in the home economy,” said Li Mingjiang, an associate professor at the S. Rajaratnam International School of Studies in Singapore.

“A war could seriously disrupt this modernization and reverse its rise,” he told Reuters.

China also has no complete certainty that it can achieve a clear military victory at this stage, Lik said.