China's envoy warns of 'red lines' ahead of Xi-Trump summit

China's ambassador to the US warned Wednesday that Beijing has "red lines" on Taiwan, human rights and other issues that cannot be crossed, ahead of this week's summit between Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump in Washington. Writing in the Communist Party's People's Daily, Ambassador Xie Feng said the US should stop "fabricating pretexts" like national security and forced labour to constrain China, and listed four red lines: Taiwan, democracy and human rights, development paths, and development rights. A separate commentary in the same paper blamed US "erroneous perceptions" and its focus on "strategic competition" for recent tensions, urging Washington to maintain policy continuity and honour commitments to stabilise bilateral ties.