Biden's Secretary of State Blinken declares US does 'not support Taiwan independence'

Holding a press conference at the US Embassy in Beijing on Monday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared that the US does "not support Taiwan independence."

"On Taiwan, I reiterated the longstanding US One China policy. That policy has not changed. It’s guided by the Taiwan Relations Act, three joint communiques, the six assurances."

"We do not support Taiwan independence. We remain opposed to any unilateral changes to the status quo by either side. We continue to expect the peaceful resolution of cross-strait differences," Blinken said.

The statement came after Blinken met with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his two-day trip to the country.

Blinken said the two countries took a "positive step" in repairing relations, agreeing to reopen high-level dialogue, according to Bloomberg.

"My hope and expectation is we’ll have better communications, better engagement going forward," Blinken said at the press conference. "I think we took a positive step in that direction over the last few days."

Xi praised Blinken’s visit, the highest-level US official to visit in five years, saying it was "very good" the two nations had made progress on stabilizing their relationship.

"The two sides have also made progress and reached agreements on some specific issues," Xi said.

Despite this though, Bloomberg reported that there was no sign the meeting helped to resolve differences on a range of issues that divide the countries, including restoring direct contacts between the countries’ militaries.

Meeting with Blinken on Sunday, Wang Yi, China’s top foreign policy official, criticized "illegal" US sanctions and blamed Washington for the countries’ worsening ties.

Blinken reportedly said that the US is seeking to "de-risk" its relationship with China but not "de-couple" from the US’ largest trading partner.

"We have no illusions about the challenges of managing this relationship," Blinken said. "There are many issues on which we profoundly even vehemently disagree."

Despite this, Blinken’s visit has set the groundwork for in-person talks between the two countries’ leaders later this year.

Foreign Minister Qin Gang accepted an invitation on Sunday to visit Washington after seven and a half hours of talks that Blinken said both sides described as "productive" and "candid."

Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu, however, has declined to meet with US counterpart Lloyd Austin until Washington lifts sanctions against him.