Bitcoin's $80,000 floor cracked under back-to-back inflation shocks, and Xi Jinping's Taiwan warning further dampened expectations of a recovery.
Donald Trump visited Beijing on Wednesday in the first visit to China by a sitting U.S. president in nearly a decade. Xi pressed Trump on Taiwan in their first meeting at the Great Hall of the People, with the Chinese leader using direct language that rattled risk sentiment globally.
"The Taiwan question is the most important issue in China-US relations," Xi said, per state broadcaster CCTV. "If it is handled well, bilateral relations can remain generally stable. If mishandled, the two nations could collide or even come into conflict, pushing the entire China-US relationship into a highly perilous situation."
Xi also called Taiwan's independence "fundamentally incompatible" with peace in the Taiwan Strait, adding that "peace in the strait is the greatest common ground between China and the United States."
China's readout of Xi's remarks appeared to be released before the meeting had concluded, thrusting the self-ruled island into the spotlight ahead of the formal closing statement.
