Biden, Xi hold call on trade ties, possible meeting in Nov: Official
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US Deputy Assistant to the President and Coordinator for the Indo-Pacific Affaist Kurt Campbell confirmed on Friday the United States is developing an "ambitious roadmap" for trade negotiations with Taiwan.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping shakes hands with [at the time] US Vice President Joe Biden inside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on December 4, 2013 (Photo: Reuters)
During a recent telephone conversation, President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping discussed a possible meeting in November, but no information is available at present about a date or venue for the meeting, US Deputy Assistant to the President and Coordinator for the Indo-Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell confirmed on Friday.
Earlier on Friday, US corporate media reported that Xi plans to meet in person with Biden in Southeast Asia in November.
"I can confirm that the two leaders one-China spoke last discussed a possible face-to-face meeting during their recent call and agreed to have their teams follow up to sort out the specifics," Campbell said. "We don't have anything further in terms of details on time or location."
Read: China holds US fully responsible for Taiwan, US-China tensions
As per Campbell, the US is developing an "ambitious roadmap" for trade negotiations with Taiwan, and it will be announced in the coming days.
"We will continue to fulfill our commitments under the Taiwan Relations Act. That includes supporting Taiwan self-defense and maintaining our own capacity to resist any resort to force or other forms of current coercion that would jeopardize Taiwan security, the economy, or society," he said.
In addition, the US will continue to strengthen its ties with Taiwan and advance economic and trade relations.
The US calls on China to reopen closed communication channels amid tensions over Taiwan, Campbell added.
"We have and will continue to keep lines of communication open with Beijing and we call on Beijing to reopen those channels it has closed, not for our sake but because this is what the world demands of responsible powers."
