Top lawmakers are expressing concern that the U.S. is projecting ‘weakness’ after a new report revealed Chinese President Xi Jinping told President Biden he is planning to take over Taiwan soon.
Xi expressed to Biden during last month’s APEC Summit in San Francisco, California, that China would ‘reunify’ with Taiwan, but the timing was still not determined, according to NBC news.
The Chinese president added that his preference is that Taiwan would be taken over ‘peacefully’ and not by force, according to three U.S. officials.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who serves as the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee called the report ‘beyond unnerving.’
‘To communist China, if you think you can bully your way into destroying world order without consequences, you will be making Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine look wise,’ he said in a statement to DailyMail.com.
Joe Biden and Jinping met for the first time in over a year for high-stakes talks on Wednesday to try and bury the hatchet amid dangerously escalating tensions between Washington and Beijing
Sen. Lindsey Graham , R-S.C., who serves as the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee called the report ‘beyond unnerving’
The top Republican pledged to work with his Democratic colleagues to first push through a ‘robust’ defense aid package to Taiwan and also draft ‘pre-invasion’ sanctions on China.
He said imposing ‘sanctions from hell’ on China will deter the nation from trying to seize Taiwan.
The South Carolina senator added that ‘apparently China sees weakness’ when it comes to the Biden-led United States.
Another top Republican, Rep. Mike Waltz, echoed concerns that the Biden administration is projecting weakness.
‘China’s dictator came to American soil and told Biden his face he’s taking Taiwan,’ Waltz, R-Fla., wrote on X.
‘The world will not survive 5 more years of this WEAKNESS in the White House!,’ he continued.
Joe Biden and Xi Jinping met for the first time in over a year for high-stakes talks in mid-November to try and bury the hatchet amid dangerously escalating tensions between Washington and Beijing.
The two leaders met for four hours at a historic home outside of San Francisco.
Their encounter began with a warm double-clasped handshake, and a declaration by Xi that the world is ‘big enough’ for both countries, despite years of rising rhetoric and provocations.
‘The China-U.S. relationship has never been smooth sailing and always faces problems of one kind or another,’ Xi said through a translator as he met Biden.
‘I’ve always found our discussions to be straightforward and frank and always appreciated them,’ Biden told Xi, after spending years telling U.S. audiences he has spent more time with the Chinese autocrat than any other U.S. leader.
Rep. Mike Waltz says he’s ‘not buying’ the administration’s strategy to deal with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)
Beijing’s war games were launched amid Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s delicate mission to shore up her nation’s dwindling diplomatic alliances in Central America and boost its U.S. support
The White House downplayed the report when asked about it during a gaggle with reporters Wednesday.
‘I’m not going to get into the specifics of the discussion between the two leaders,’ National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby replied. I think you can understand I’m not going to read out that — that private conversation.
He continued on to say that Xi has been ‘public and clear about — about his desires for reunification. That’s not — that’s not something different or new.’
Kirby added that Biden was ‘clear’ with Xi that the U.S. still adheres to the One China policy and does not support independence for Taiwan.
The Jimmy Carter-era One China policy, which is still in place today, acknowledges that there is only one Chinese government, and Taiwan is not an independent or sovereign state.
However, Congress also passed the Taiwan Relations Act. The legislation guaranteed that the U.S. would protect the island and help it defend itself – which is why the U.S. sells them arms.
‘We also don’t support a change in the status quo unilaterally and certainly not one by force. And as the President has said, there’s no reason for this to come to blows,’ Kirby concluded.