Striking a tough posture at the much-awaited virtual summit with his US counterpart Joe Biden on Tuesday, President Xi Jinping said that China will “certainly defend” its sovereignty and security interests as he warned that whoever plays with fire over Taiwan’s bid for independence will “get burnt”.
In a lengthy speech touching a host of issues at the marathon summit, Xi, fresh from last week’s ruling Communist Party of China Plenum meet endorsing an unprecedented third term for him from next year and perhaps for life, pointed Beijing’s “red lines” on several issues, including Taiwan, and said China’s rise is an “inevitable trend of history” and cannot be stopped.
Summing up the talks, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a media briefing here that the summit lasted for three and half hours exceeding the scheduled time with an interval in between.
“It is of great significance for China-US relations and international relations,” Zhao said.
“The two sides had exchanges on a broad range of issues, including those of strategic, overarching and fundamental importance shaping the development of China-US relations, respective development agenda, domestic and foreign policies and regional and international issues of mutual interest,” he said.
There was a consensus about rejecting a “new Cold War” between the two leaders, he said.
President Biden also explicitly stated that the US does not seek a “new Cold War”, Zhao said.