Biden said in response to a reporter at the end of a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Sok Yul at Camp David, the country presidential residence near Washington, DC.
Biden was referring to the call he had with Xi Jinping in November 2022 in Bali, Indonesia, during the G-20 summit.
Moments before announcing his intention to meet his Chinese counterpart, Biden and the Asian leaders present at the summit denounced Beijing’s “dangerous” and “aggressive” behavior in the South China Sea.
In a joint statement, the three countries condemned “illegal maritime allegations” in maritime affairs, while Beijing claims sovereignty over the waters of neighboring countries and conducts air and sea exercises in Taiwan’s airspace almost daily.
“We strongly oppose any unilateral attempt to change the status quo in the waters of the Indo-Pacific region,” the leaders of the three countries said in the closing statement.
“We reaffirm the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” they added, referring to the archipelago of liberal democratic government, like the three countries represented at today’s summit.
“The purpose of our tripartite security cooperation is, and will continue to be, to promote and enhance peace and stability throughout the region,” the three countries said in a joint statement.
Even before it began, the summit was subjected to harsh public criticism from the Chinese Communist Party government.
“Attempts to form various groups and small exclusive clubs and bring bloc confrontation to the Asia-Pacific region are unpopular and will certainly arouse vigilance and opposition in countries in the region,” a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said today. Wang Wen Bin.
