Joe Biden speaks to Xi Jinping, says both sides agreed to abide by Taiwan agreement

Washington: US President Joe Biden said he spoke to Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss China’s military activity near Taiwan and both sides agreed to abide by the Taiwan agreement, Spoutnik reported citing White House press pool’s report.

“I’ve spoken with Xi about Taiwan. We agree, we will abide by the Taiwan agreement. That’s where we are, and I made it clear that I don’t think he should be doing anything other than abiding by the agreement,” the President said on Tuesday (local time).

Since Friday, China has sent almost 150 aircraft into Taiwan’s defence zone . Taiwan’s ministry of defence announced that People’s Liberation Army Aircraft’s (PLAAF) 34 Shenyang J-16 fighter jets, two SU-30 fighter jets, two Shaanxi Y-8 anti-submarine warfare (Y-8 ASW) planes, two KJ-500 airborne early warning and control aircraft (KJ-500 AEW&C), and 12 Xian H-6 bomber entered Taiwan’s air defence identification zone (ADIZ). The aircraft all flew sorties in the southwest corner of Taiwan’s ADIZ, just to the northeast of the Dongsha Islands, Taiwan News reported.

Since mid-September of last year, Beijing has stepped up its grey-zone tactics by regularly sending planes into Taiwan’s ADIZ, with most instances occurring in the southwest corner of the zone and usually consisting of one to three slow-flying turboprop planes.

Beijing claims full sovereignty over Taiwan , a democracy of almost 24 million people located off the southeastern coast of mainland China, despite the fact that the two sides have been governed separately for more than seven decades.