(RightWing.org) – The People’s Republic of China’s President Xi Jinping made his way to San Francisco for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Summit on November 15, and Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom made sure to make him feel welcome. After years of ignoring local business and community leaders about the homeless problem troubling the city’s streets, he managed to clear the unfortunate people from the path of the dictator’s motorcade in a matter of days and replace them with a prodigious display of Chinese flags. President Joe Biden made sure he was there to meet Xi where they met face-to-face for approximately four hours.
Two Takes on One Meeting
Both presidents agreed that they spoke with one another about certain topics, but it seems that each had his own interpretation of what transpired with him. One of the matters that Biden brought up was his hope to reestablish contact between military officials of the two nations, which China cut off in response to then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) visit to Taiwan (the Republic of China/ROC) in August 2022.
Considering the military might of both nuclear-armed countries, China’s continued aggressive posture in both the East and South China Seas, and America’s commitment to countries like Taiwan, the Philippines, and Australia, having local commanders be able to speak to one another is a good idea. However, Biden and Xi had a similar talk about opening lines of communication almost exactly one year ago in Bali, Indonesia, with nothing to show for it except a “no” being given to Secretary of State Antony Blinken when he traveled to China in June. Some pundits warned that people should not get their hopes up that Xi will agree to this latest request, this time either.
Another issue of great import to the United States is the continued supply of the precursor drugs — the ones that are combined to make the very powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl — that find their way from China into the hands of Mexican and South American cartels. In a press conference following their discussion, Biden said that Xi had committed to working with America to choke off those supply lines, but America first had to agree to remove the PRC’s Institute of Forensic Science from the entities list (economic sanctions).
Perhaps the most striking example of how differently the countries spun their talks and handled a particular topic is the one that surrounds the issue of Taiwan. In the American version of the readout of the meeting between Biden and Xi — not a verbatim of the conversation, but rather a synopsis — they claim that China was warned not to make any unilateral moves against the island nation.
However, when one turns to the official recap of the meeting as published by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs things sound just a little bit different. They claim that Xi once again reiterated that America should not support the idea of “Taiwan independence,” stop supplying military aid to Taipei, and accept that “reunification” is “unstoppable.” The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and Air Force (PLAAF) have massively increased pressures in and around ROC airspace and waters since Pelosi’s visit, according to a study published by the Washington Post.
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