Beijing’s top Taiwan official meets US think tank to reaffirm red lines

Beijing’s director of the Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO), Song Tao, has held a rare meeting with a delegation of US scholars that pledged to push for the peaceful development of cross-strait ties.

During the meeting in Beijing on Tuesday with a delegation from the National Committee on American Foreign Policy (NCAFP) led by its president and CEO, Susan M. Elliott, Song spoke of a broader diplomatic context following high-level summit meetings between Chinese and US leadership.

“President Xi Jinping elaborated on China’s principled stance on the Taiwan question during his recent summit with the US leadership, emphasising that China firmly safeguards national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Song said, according to an official State Council TAO release.

“We urge the US side to adhere to the correct position of opposing ‘Taiwan independence’ and handle the Taiwan question with utmost prudence.”

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Song said Beijing would continue expanding economic and cultural exchanges across the Taiwan Strait to deepen integrated development while “resolutely” countering foreign interference and separatist activities.

In response, Elliott cited a critical need to maintain robust communication channels during volatile global conditions.

“Maintaining close communication between the United States and China is of vital importance, and cross-strait exchanges and integrated development contribute to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” she was quoted as saying on behalf of the delegation.

“The NCAFP will continue, as always, to play a bridging role in promoting the peaceful development of cross-strait relations and contributing to constructive strategic stability between the US and China.”

Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary. Most countries, including the US, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but Washington is opposed to any attempt to take the self-governed island by force and is committed to supplying it with weapons.

The meeting took place amid broader developments in the two powers’ relationship, where managing the Taiwan question has remained a central focal point during recent presidential summits and high-level working channels.

In these exchanges, Beijing reiterated its red lines regarding Taiwan, while Washington highlighted the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait alongside ongoing bilateral security cooperation.

The meeting on Tuesday continues a Track 1.5 diplomatic engagement model used in recent years. However, it is not common for TAO – Beijing’s prime official agency on its policies towards Taiwan – to engage with US groups.

Between 2008 and 2015, former TAO directors Wang Yi and Zhang Zhijun regularly conducted official working trips to Washington and New York to meet White House and State Department officials.

Following an escalating trade war in US-China dynamics during Liu Jieyi’s tenure (2017-2022) – friction that was compounded by pandemic-era travel disruptions – direct TAO trips to the US were largely paused.

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In their place, Beijing-hosted meetings with influential non-governmental institutions such as the NCAFP have become the primary conduit for Chinese policy architects to communicate strategic red lines directly to American foreign policy circles following major bilateral summits.

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In 2024, Song hosted Elliott and the NCAFP delegation in Beijing shortly after the Apec summit in Lima – where Xi met then US president Joe Biden – to clarify strategic baselines following head-of-state meetings.