Joe Biden & Xi Jinping to hold their first in-person summit amid tension over Taiwan

|HT|

President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping agreed to schedule their first in-person summit during a sometimes tense phone call Thursday where Xi warned the United States not to "play with fire" in Taiwan. Although this was their fifth phone or video call since Biden took office a year and a half ago, the summit would be their first in-person meeting as leaders. No detail was given on the timing or location.

Biden and Xi "discussed the value of meeting face-to-face and agreed to have their teams follow up to find a mutually agreeable time to do so," a US official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Both sides described the call, which lasted two hours and 17 minutes, as a robust exchange on the many disputes between the world's two biggest economic powers.

China's state-run Xinhua agency said Xi delivered harsh words on US policy towards Taiwan, a democratic island with close ties to the United States but which China considers part of its territory. "Those who play with fire will eventually get burned," Xi was quoted as telling Biden, repeating language he employed when they spoke last November. "I hope the US side fully understands that."

Tensions around Taiwan are steadily escalating amid fears that Xi could ultimately order an invasion to impose Beijing's rule.

In the latest flashpoint, Chinese authorities are furious at unconfirmed plans by Biden ally and speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, to visit the island.

Although US officials frequently visit Taiwan, separated by a narrow strip of water from the Chinese mainland, Beijing considers a Pelosi trip as a major provocation. She's second in line to the US presidency and given her position may travel with military transport.

(Except for the headline and the pictorial description, this story has not been edited by THE DEN staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)