China said Monday the United States apologised after Beijing officially protested a White House statement that mistakenly described Xi Jinping as the president of the…
China said Monday the United States apologised after Beijing officially protested a White House statement that mistakenly described Xi Jinping as the president of the “Republic of China”.
Xi is president of the People’s Republic of China, while the Republic of China is the official name for Taiwan, which Beijing claims as a breakaway province awaiting reunification.
The error was made in an official readout of US President Trump’s remarks before a bilateral meeting with Xi during last weekend’s G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany.
It recalled Trump’s initial wavering on the “One China” policy, which underpins relations between Washington and Beijing by acknowledging there is only one China and Taiwan is part of it.
Ties were also initially stymied by a protocol-busting phone call between the Beijing-sceptic president Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and Trump following his election victory.
