Biden set to address tensions with China as Pelosi trip to Taiwan ‘not a good idea’

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The Biden administration is debating cutting import duties on goods from China to help reduce inflation pressures on American consumers.

The US government has described China as its main strategic rival but believes it is important to keep President Xi engaged in order to keep the relationship stable.

The call would mark the first time the two leaders have spoken with each other in four months.

Last month Washington pushed NATO to adopt a strategic document calling China a security challenge, reported Reuters.

President Biden told reporters: “I think I’ll be talking to President Xi within the next 10 days.”

This comes as Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s planned trip to Taiwan next month was called into question by the POTUS.

He said: “I think that the military thinks it’s not a good idea right now, but I don’t know what the status of it is.”

China said they would respond with “forceful measures” if Ms Pelosi does visit the island, which Beijing claims is Chinese territory.

It added that such a trip would “seriously undermine China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”.

It is not confirmed whether Ms Pelosi’s trip will go ahead due to potential security concerns, with the State Department describing it as “hypothetical”.

The Biden administration has previously said its commitment to Taiwan’s security is “rock solid”.

China has not ruled out force to take control of Taiwan, which established its own nationalist government in 1948.

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CIA director Bill Burns told CNN that Beijing has been “unsettled” by Putin’s failure to take control of Kyiv during his invasion of Ukraine.

Mr Burns said: “Our sense is that it probably affects less the question of whether the Chinese leadership might choose some years down the road to use force to control Taiwan, but how and when they would do it.

“I suspect the lesson that the Chinese leadership and military are drawing is that you’ve got to amass overwhelming force if you’re going to contemplate that in the future.”

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