US President Joe Biden and China's Xi Jinping spent more than two hours on Thursday discussing the future of their complicated relationship, with the issue of Taiwan once again emerging as a key point of tension.
A White House statement after the conversation said the two presidents discussed a number of issues important to bilateral relations and other regional and global issues, and tasked their teams to continue following today's conversation, particularly to address climate change and health security.
Regarding Taiwan, the statement said, President Biden underlined that the policy of the United States 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 Strait.
According to a description of the call released by Beijing, President Xi emphasized China's claim to the island, which has been self-ruled for decades.
"Those who play with fire will die from it," said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "Hopefully the US will be clear on that."
The White House has not yet released its statement on the conversation, which began at 8:33 a.m. and ended at 10:50 a.m. Washington time.
As usual, China left no doubt that it blames the United States for the deterioration of relations between the two countries.
"President Xi pointed out that to approach and define China-US relations in terms of strategic competition and to see China as the main rival and the most serious long-term challenge would be to misperceive China-US relations and misunderstand China's development and would mislead the people of both countries and the international community," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
"The two heads of state had an in-depth communication and exchange on China-US relations and issues of common interest," China Central Television reported on its website.
The latest point of tension has been a possible visit by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan, an island that is self-governing democratically and receives informal defense support from the United States, but which China considers part of its territory. . Beijing has said it would consider such a trip a provocation, a threat US officials are taking more seriously in light of Russia's incursion into Ukraine.
"If the US insists on going its own way and challenging China's bottom line, it will certainly face strong responses," Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry, told reporters earlier this week. "All the consequences that come will be borne by the US."
Ms. Pelosi would be the most senior US elected official to travel to Taiwan since Republican Newt Gingrich visited the island in 1997, when he was speaker of the House of Representatives. President Biden last week told reporters that US military officials believed it was "not a good idea" for Ms Pelosi to visit the island at this time.
John Kirby, the US national security spokesman, said on Wednesday that it was important that Presidents Biden and Xi keep the discussion regularly open.
"The president wants to make sure that the lines of communication with President Xi remain open because they are necessary," Mr. Kirby told reporters at a White House briefing. "There are issues on which we can cooperate with China, and there are issues where there is obviously friction and tension."
Presidents Biden and Xi last spoke in March, shortly after the Russian attack on Ukraine.
"This is one of the most important bilateral relationships in the world today, with many ramifications beyond the two individual countries," Mr Kirby said.
Some analysts believe President Xi also has an interest in avoiding escalation as he seeks an unprecedented third term in office at a ruling Communist Party congress expected in the fall.
President Biden also wants to discuss climate and economic competitiveness, a person briefed on the conversation said, as well as the idea of imposing a price cap on Russian oil to punish Moscow for its war in Ukraine, an issue that the Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen raised it with Chinese counterparts earlier in July.
The Biden administration has debated whether to remove some tariffs on Chinese goods as a way to ease rising inflation.
When President Biden last spoke with his counterpart Xi in March, he warned of "consequences" if Beijing provided material support for Russia's war, and the US government believes that red line has not been crossed.
Taiwan has complained about increased Chinese military maneuvers over the past two years to force it to accept Beijing's sovereignty.