• US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping met for the first time on Monday.
• The two discussed Taiwan, North Korea and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
• It was Mr. Biden’s first face-to-face encounter with Mr. Xi since taking office.

Following a cordial meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, US President Joe Biden declared there will be no “new Cold War” with China.

Additionally, he stated that he did not think China would invade Taiwan.

Since Mr. Biden assumed office, it was the two powerhouse leaders’ first face-to-face encounter.

A day before the G20 conference on the Indonesian island of Bali, the two also spoke about North Korea and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Soon after Mr. Xi’s arrival, the leaders met for three hours in an opulent hotel and covered a wide variety of topics, including Taiwan.

The self-governing island, which Beijing claims, considers the US as an ally and has traditionally been contentious in US-China relations.

When US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August, tensions rose sharply. Fears of a US-China confrontation were raised when China replied with extensive military drills surrounding the island.

Taiwan continues to be “the center of China’s basic interests… and the first red line in US-China ties that cannot be crossed,” according to a readout provided to Chinese state media on Monday.

US authorities have recently issued warnings that China may intensify its ambitions to conquer Taiwan.

On Monday, reporters questioned Mr. Biden about whether he expected this to be the case and whether he saw the potential for a new Cold War.

“I firmly believe that a new Cold War is unnecessary. Xi Jinping and I have had numerous meetings, and during every one of them, we were open and honest with one another. I don’t believe that China is planning to invade Taiwan any time soon “said he.

“I made it clear that we want cross-strait disputes to be settled amicably so that it never has to. And I have no doubt that he understood what I was saying because I did.”

According to Mr. Biden, the two leaders decided to establish a framework wherein discussions would take place at important levels of government to settle disputes. Antony Blinken, the secretary of state, will also go to China soon, he said.

He continued by saying that he had made it clear to Mr. “No changes have been made to our stance on Taiwan. We are in exactly the same situation as before “.

Mr. Biden has consistently stated that if Taiwan is attacked by China, the US will stand up for it. It has been interpreted as a change from the US’s long-standing policy of “strategic ambiguity” toward Taiwan, whereby it does not formally commit to defending the island. On his statements, officials have retracted them.

With regard to Taiwan, the US has traditionally straddled a precarious line. The One China policy, under which Washington recognizes only one Chinese government, in Beijing, and has no formal links to Taiwan, is a pillar of its relationship with Beijing.

The Taiwan Relations Act, which mandates that the US furnish the island with the ability to defend itself, also mandates that it maintain close ties with Taiwan and sell weaponry to it.

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