Taiwan Says It Is Working With US on Possible Biden Meeting at APEC Summit

TSMC founder Morris Chang speaks during a press conference at the Presidential Office in Taipei, Taiwan, on Nov. 13, 2021. Sam Yeh/AFP via Getty Images

Taiwan and the United States are working on a possible in-person meeting between Taipei’s envoy to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and President Joe Biden this week, a senior Taiwanese official said.

Taiwan appointed Morris Chang, the founder of chip giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, as its representative to this week’s APEC summit in San Francisco. Taiwan is aiming at having a one-on-one exchange between Mr. Chang and President Biden.

“The two sides are discussing related arrangements,” Wellington Koo, head of the National Security Council, told reporters when asked about potential talks between President Biden and Mr. Chang during a briefing in Taipei on Tuesday.

The U.S. State Department said it did not have anything to announce and directed The Epoch Times to the White House, while the latter didn’t respond to a request for comment.

‘All Possible Ways’

President Biden will meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the summit. Tensions around Taiwan, a self-ruled island that China claims as its own territory, are expected to be on the agenda when the two leaders meet in the San Francisco Bay Area on Wednesday.

Mr. Koo said Washington and Beijing were divided on major topics, including Taiwan.

“They are fundamentally split on core issues, so the meeting could become a place where they talk past each other,” he said, noting that neither side is likely to make concessions on the Taiwan issue.

The United States, like most countries, has no formal ties with Taiwan, but it maintains robust relations with Taipei. There is also a federal law that obliges the U.S. administration to provide Taipei with the means to defend itself.

Mr. Koo said defense relationships between Taipei and Washington remain close, but that they must keep a low profile. “I can only say, they are using all possible ways to help us, no matter if it’s in training or the build-up of asymmetric fighting capabilities,” he added.

As the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) maintains a posture of military intimidation against Taiwan, its fighter jets have engaged in more than 180 incidents of “coercive and risky operational behavior” against U.S. aircraft in the Indo-Pacific over the past two years, a number that is higher than all the intercepts combined in the decade before, according to the Pentagon.

This image from video shows an intercept of a U.S. military plane by a Chinese fighter jet over the Pacific Ocean on May 24, 2022. Department of Defense via AP

No Message for China

Last year, Taiwan’s representative to APEC met with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris at the summit in Bangkok, and their talks were mostly about semiconductors.

Mr. Chang also had a brief exchange with Mr. Xi during last year’s conference. He described the interaction as “happy” and “polite,” but added that their talks didn’t touch on tensions around Taiwan.

The CCP has ramped up pressure against Taiwan in recent years, with its military continuing to send warplanes and vessels near the island on a nearly daily basis, seeking to wear down Taipei’s defense. In 2022, Beijing flew a total of 1,737 military aircraft into international airspace near Taiwan, representing a 79 percent increase from the 972 incursions a year before, according to the Pentagon’s annual report on China’s military, citing data from Taiwan’s defense ministry.

Mr. Xi has vowed to achieve the “reunification” of Taiwan, an island that his CCP has never ruled, and he has directly threatened to use force to take it over.

Taiwan, meanwhile, pledged to safeguard its sovereignty and democratic, free way of life. In a National Day speech last month, President Tsai Ing-wen reiterated that Taiwan seeks “peaceful coexistence” with China.

APEC is one of the few international organizations that has representatives from both Taiwan and China, as the CCP has tried to isolate the island on the international stage. Like the Olympics and other global events, Taiwan takes part in the APEC summit under the name of “Chinese Taipei.”

Due to the CCP’s opposition, Taiwan has never had its president attend the APEC gathering.

On Tuesday, Ms. Tsai sent its special envoy, the 92-year-old Mr. Chang, for this year’s conference in San Francisco.

Taiwan's presidential representative Morris Chang (L) shakes hands with U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai (R) at the "APEC Leaders' Informal Dialogue with Guests" event during the APEC summit in Bangkok on Nov. 18, 2022. Athit Perawongmetha/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Asked whether Mr. Chang had been tasked with greeting the Chinese leader and sending him a message from his president, the top national security official said, “No.”

However, Mr. Koo added: “Everything should happen naturally.”

Earlier this month, Mr. Koo told Taiwanese legislators that the CCP is unlikely to invade Taiwan in the near term, at least before the end of Ms. Tsai’s second presidential term next May.

The CCP’s current priority is to deal with domestic challenges, such as attracting foreign investors and revitalizing its ailing economy, according to Mr. Koo. He suggested that Beijing would not want to risk military action to change the Taiwan status quo, like the sudden attack on Israel by the Hamas terrorists, which could only invite economic sanctions or other punishment by the West.

Reuters contributed to this report.