News / Foreign Policy

Biden to warn of bigger US military presence in South Korea

Saturday, 12 November 2022 4:31 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 12 November 2022 4:31 PM ]

Then-US Vice President Joe Biden (L) is ushered to the podium by his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping during a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on August 18, 2011. (Reuters photo)

US President Joe Biden aims to tell Chinese President Xi Jinping that the military threat posed by North Korea requires American forces to have a bolder presence on the Korean Peninsula, the White House has said.

North Korea has in the past weeks launched a series of military exercises, including artillery-firing and test-launching missiles, which Pyongyang said were provoked by the US joint military drills with South Korea.

"If North Korea keeps going down this road, it will simply mean further enhanced American military and security presence in the region," White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday.

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"And so the People's Republic of China has an interest in playing a constructive role in restraining North Korea's worst tendencies," Sullivan added, using the country's official name.

"Whether they choose to do so or not, is, of course, up to them," he said.

Sullivan said Biden hoped that his first face-to-face talk with Xi would lead to additional meetings between them.

"I think the president views this as not the end of the line, but rather the start of a series of engagements that will also include further leader-to-leader meetings down the road."

Biden and Xi are scheduled to hold their first face-to-face meeting on Monday on the sidelines of the upcoming G20 summit in Bali.

In the meantime, US ties with China have sunken to their lowest level in decades.

Beijing says the visits to Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) by high-level US lawmakers fully exposed Washington’s hidden agenda.

Improper handling of Taiwan issue to influence Sino-US ties: Xi to Biden

The Chinese president has told his US counterpart if Taiwan’s issue is handled improperly, the China-US relations would be negatively impacted.

Under the internationally-recognized “one-China” policy, nearly all countries recognize Beijing’s sovereignty over Taiwan, including the United States. However, in violation of its own stated policy and in an attempt to irritate Beijing, Washington continues to court the secessionist government in Taipei, supporting its anti-China stance and supplying it with massive caches of armament.

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