Chinese President Xi Jinping recently told President Joe Biden that Beijing will reunify Taiwan with mainland China at an unspecified time, NBC News reported.
Citing three current and former U.S. officials, NBC News said Xi informed Biden of China's plans during their meeting in San Francisco on Nov. 15.
Xi told Biden that China's preference is to take Taiwan peacefully, not by force, the officials told NBC News.
"His language was no different than what he has always said. He is always tough on Taiwan. He's always had a tough line," one U.S. official told NBC News.
About a dozen American and Chinese officials also attended the group meeting the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told CNBC on Nov. 20 that Biden and Xi remained far apart on the status of Taiwan.
"President Xi did express the view that it's important for Taiwan and mainland China to unify. He certainly expressed the desire to have that occur by peaceful means," Yellen said on CNBC's "Squawk Box." "But President Biden said our policy remains unchanged from what it's always been with respect to Taiwan."
During the meeting, Xi also denied that China plans to take Taiwan in 2025 or 2027, as predicted by some U.S. military leaders.
Xi said no time frame was set, NBC News reported Wednesday.
The news outlet added that Chinese officials requested, and were rejected, that Biden make a pre-summit public statement that the U.S. supports China's goal of peaceful unification with Taiwan.
The news of Xi's message to Biden comes as Taiwan prepares for presidential and parliamentary elections on Jan. 13.
China has ramped up military pressure to assert its claims over Taiwan, including two major war games in the past two years.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has appealed to voters to remember what had happened to Chinese-controlled Hong Kong.
"I want to ask you all here, does anyone want war? Nobody does," she said on Dec. 3. "Look at Hong Kong and think of Taiwan. We don't want Hong Kong-style peace. We want dignified peace."
Hong Kong, a former British colony, was returned to Chinese rule in 1997 with the promise of wide autonomy under a "one country, two systems" framework, which China has also offered to Taiwan — with little support on the island.
Xi, speaking at last year's Chinese Communist Party Congress, said China would attack Taiwan militarily if it declares independence with foreign support.
Attacking Taiwan if the island does not declare independence is unlikely, some experts say, because a military conflict likely would prevent mainland China from reaching its economic goal of doubling the size of its economy by 2035.
Reuters contributed to this story.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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