The two leaders spoke for two hours during rising tensions over US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's potential trip to Taiwan.
In their fifth call as leaders during a period of simmering economic and geopolitical tensions, Chinese President Xi Jinping cautioned his American counterpart, Joe Biden, against "playing with fire" over Taiwan.
According to state-run media in China, Xi told Biden that the United States should uphold the "one-China principle" and emphasized that China vehemently opposed Taiwanese independence and "interference" by outside forces.
According to reports, Xi warned Biden that "those who play with fire will only get burned." "We hope that the US side can understand this clearly."
In a statement, the White House said that Biden informed Xi that US policy remained unchanged and that Washington "strongly opposes unilateral efforts to change the status quo or undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait," the body of water separating the island from mainland China.
After the call, Taiwan's foreign ministry expressed gratitude to Biden for his support and stated that it would continue to strengthen its security alliance with the United States.
The US president is attempting to find new ways to cooperate with China amid rising global competition and tensions between the two countries over a number of issues, including human rights, global health, and economic policy. The Biden-Xi call, which lasted more than two hours, took place at this time.
Beijing has most recently issued increasingly stern warnings regarding a potential visit to Taiwan by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, claiming that such a visit would be seen as provocative. The US provides Taiwan with informal defensive assistance, but Beijing regards Taiwan as part of its territory and has not ruled out using force to further its objectives.
Zhao Lijian, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, earlier this week warned that "forceful responses" would be given if the US insisted on following its own course and challenging China's fundamental principles. "The US shall be responsible for all resulting consequences."
Since Republican Newt Gingrich visited Taiwan in 1997 while House speaker, Pelosi would be the highest-ranking US elected official to do so. According to US military officials, Pelosi visiting the island at this time is "not a good idea," Biden told reporters last week.
summit meeting in person
Later that day, a senior Biden administration official who spoke to reporters on the record said that Biden and Xi discussed the possibility of holding a face-to-face meeting during their call. The two presidents last spoke in March, shortly after Russia started its invasion of Ukraine.
As "one of the most consequential bilateral relationships in the world today," according to US national security spokesman John Kirby, it is critical that Biden and Xi communicate frequently.
In a call with Biden, Xi stressed that "to approach and define China-US relations in terms of strategic competition and view China as the primary rival and the most serious long-term challenge would be misperceiving China-US relations and misreading China's development," the Chinese foreign affairs ministry added on Thursday.
There was no sign of any "meaningful" dialogue, according to Michael Swaine, the director of the Quincy Institute's East Asia program, despite the two-hour discussion.
From Maryland in the United States, he told Al Jazeera that "neither is really addressing the interests and concerns of the other." "In some ways, it's really a dialogue for the deaf."
Biden has worked to lessen the US's reliance on Chinese manufacturing since taking office last year. This week, he voiced support for legislation that was passed by Congress encouraging semiconductor companies to construct more advanced facilities in the US.
In an effort to lessen the impact of skyrocketing inflation on American households, Biden—who has kept in place tariffs on many Chinese-made goods created under his predecessor Donald Trump to maintain leverage over Beijing—is also debating whether to ease at least some of them.
The official from the US administration claimed that during the call on Thursday, the topic of tariffs was not raised.
As he seeks an unexpected third presidential term at a congress of China's ruling Communist Party anticipated later this year, some analysts think Xi now has an interest in preventing an escalation.
The risk of a serious disaster is "well above zero," according to Scott Kennedy of the Institute for Global Studies in Washington, and a call between Biden and Xi is crucial to avert an unwelcome confrontation.
No one wants to go to war right now, Kennedy told the Business insider news agency. "Beijing, Taipei, and Washington were also full of people deeply embedded in how to send and analyze signals expressing threats and reassurance.