United States President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping recently met in Lima, Peru, for high-level talks. Chinese state media reports claim that Xi, for the first time, directly mentioned Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) during the discussions, urging the U.S. to handle Taiwan-related matters with care. However, Taiwanese officials clarified that there was no mention of Lai or the Democratic Progressive Party in official meeting records.
Taiwan’s National Security Bureau Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥)addressed the claims, stating that Chinese leaders rarely name Taiwanese leaders in public statements. He says the reports might be part of a narrative manipulation effort by China's foreign ministry or state media.
Tsai drew comparisons to a similar incident during Xi’s meeting with Singapore’s Prime Minister, where Chinese reports claimed Singapore supported the "One China" principle and opposed Taiwanese independence. Those claims were later contradicted by Singaporean officials.
Chinese state media has also emphasized Xi’s remarks on Taiwan, democracy and human rights, and development rights, calling them "red lines" that cannot be crossed. Tsai noted that the Biden-Xi meeting largely reflected the ongoing tensions between the two powers, with Taiwan remaining a critical area of strategic focus for the U.S. Both sides restated their respective positions but made limited progress in bridging differences.
Tsai says that one of the few agreements reached during the meeting was a commitment to prevent the use of artificial intelligence in nuclear weapons decision-making.