‘Life-or-death question’: US must grasp Taiwan’s importance to China, former envoy Cui Tiankai says

China-US ties are too “complex” to be reset by a single meeting between the leaders of the two countries, and the Taiwan issue has to be acknowledged first as a “life-or-death question” before true progress is possible, according to veteran Chinese diplomat Cui Tiankai.

Speaking exclusively to the Post just ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s face-to-face talks to his American counterpart Joe Biden in San Francisco last week, China’s longest-serving ambassador to the United States also expressed confidence in Hong Kong’s future as an investment hub and international financial centre despite being caught up in geopolitical tensions.