In a meeting on Nov. 16 between China’s President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the Nov. 15-16 APEC leaders summit in Lima, Peru, Xi pointed to four red lines for China, which must not be challenged or crossed: China’s right to development, China’s path and system, democracy and human rights, and the question of Taiwan, reported the Global Times on Nov. 17. Xi stated that the one-China principle, and the three China-U.S. joint communiqués are the political foundation of China-U.S. relations.
The three China-U.S. joint communiqués have played an important role in the establishment of relations between the two countries. The first communiqué between President Richard Nixon and Premier Zhou Enlai was issued Feb. 28, 1972, in which the U.S. formally acknowledges that “All Chinese on either side of the Taiwan Strait maintain, that there is but one China and that Taiwan is part of China,” and that the U.S. government “reaffirms its interest in a peaceful settlement of the Taiwan question by the Chinese themselves.” It should be noted that prior to that, on Oct. 25th, 1971, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution, which restored the People’s Republic of China to the Chinese seat at the United Nations and expelled the Republic of China (Taiwan).
