WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping spent more than two hours Thursday talking about the future of their complicated relationship, with the flashpoint of Taiwan once again emerging as a key point of tension.
According to an outline of the call released by Beijing, Xi emphasized China’s claim to the island, which has been self-ruled for decades.
“Those who play with fire will perish by it,” the State Department said.  “Hopefully the US will be clear-eyed about this.”
The White House released its own account of the conversation on Taiwan, saying Biden “underscored that United States policy has not changed and that the United States strongly opposes unilateral efforts to change the status quo or undermine peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits.  “
The target of the call, which began at 8:33 a.m.  EDT and ended at 10:50 A.M.  EDT, was to “manage our differences responsibly and cooperate where our interests align,” the White House said.
As usual, China has left no doubt that it blames the US for the deterioration of relations between the two countries.
“President Xi emphasized that approaching and defining China-US relations in terms of strategic competition and seeing China as the primary adversary and the most serious long-term challenge would be to misunderstand China-US relations and misread the development of China and would mislead the world.  of the two countries and the international community,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
The call comes as Biden aims to find new ways to work with China and curb its influence around the world.  Differing perspectives on global health, economic policy and human rights have long tested the relationship – with China’s refusal to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine adding further pressure.
The latest pressure point was a possible visit by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan, which has a democratic government and receives informal defense support from the US but which China considers part of its territory.  Beijing has said it would view such a trip as a provocation, a threat that US officials are taking with increased seriousness in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“If the US insists on going its own way and questioning China’s results, it will certainly be met with strong responses,” Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for China’s foreign ministry, told reporters earlier this week.  “All subsequent consequences will be borne by the US”
Pelosi would be the highest-ranking US elected official to travel to Taiwan since Republican Newt Gingrich visited the island in 1997 when he was speaker of the House.  Biden last week told reporters that US military officials believed it was “not a good idea” for the speaker to visit the island at this time.
John Kirby, a US national security spokesman, said on Wednesday that it was important for Biden and Xi to be in regular contact with the base.
“The president wants to make sure the lines of communication with President Xi stay open because they have to,” Kirby told reporters during a White House briefing.  “There are issues on which we can work with China and there are issues on which there is obviously friction and tension.”
Biden and Xi last spoke in March, shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“This is one of the most important bilateral relationships in the world today, with ramifications far beyond the two individual countries,” Kirby said.
Biden has moved to shift U.S. reliance on Chinese manufacturing, including final approval by Congress on Thursday of legislation to encourage semiconductor companies to build more high-tech factories in the U.S.
He also wants to guide global democracies to support infrastructure investment in low- and middle-income countries as an alternative to China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to boost China’s trade with other global markets.
Biden has maintained Trump-era tariffs on many Chinese-made goods in order to maintain Beijing’s leverage.  But he is considering easing at least some of them to ease the impact of soaring inflation on American households.
US officials have also criticized China’s “zero COVID-19” mass testing and lockdown policy in an effort to limit the spread of COVID-19 on its territory, calling it misguided and worried it will further slow global economic growth.
Other pressure points include China’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims, whom the US has declared a genocide, their militarization of the South China Sea and its global campaign of economic and political espionage.
Associated Press writers Ken Moritsugu and Joe McDonald contributed from Beijing.