Xi, Biden exchange warnings as Pelosi's plans to visit Taiwan spark tensions

euronews.com:

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Joe Biden held a long phone call in which the Beijing leader warned the US against meddling in China's dealings with Taiwan and splitting the world's two biggest economies, officials said.

During the unusually lengthy three-hour call, there was no indication of progress on trade, technology or other issues, including Beijing's opposition to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's possible visit to the island democracy, which the mainland claims as its territory.

Businesspeople and economists warn such a change brought on by Chinese industrial policy and US curbs on technology exports might hurt the global economy by slowing innovation and increasing costs.

Meanwhile, Xi and Biden are looking at the possibility of meeting in person, according to a US official who declined to be identified further. Xi has been invited to Indonesia in November for a meeting of the Group of 20 major economies, making it a potential location for a face-to-face meeting.

The Chinese government gave no indication Xi and Biden discussed possible plans by Pelosi to visit Taiwan, which the ruling Communist Party says has no right to conduct foreign relations. But Xi rejected "interference by external forces" that might encourage Taiwan to try to make its decades-old de facto independence permanent.

"Resolutely safeguarding China's national sovereignty and territorial integrity is the firm will of the more than 1.4 billion Chinese people," said the statement. "Those who play with fire will perish by it."

The harsh language from Xi, who usually tries to appear to be above political disputes and makes blandly positive public comments, suggested that Chinese leaders might believe Washington didn't understand the