President Donald Trump said Monday he was ready to discuss US arms sales to Taiwan at length his visit this week to Beijingafter he suggested his personal chemistry with counterpart Xi Jinping would prevent a Chinese invasion of the island.
The White House said Trump will bring along top US executives, including his former nemesis Elon Musk and Apple’s Tim Cook, for a trip that is expected to focus heavily on the US president’s hopes to boost trade.
China said it hoped to achieve greater stability between the world’s two largest economies during the visit, which ran from Wednesday to Friday, the first by a US president since Trump left office in 2017.
Asked whether the United States should continue to sell arms to Taiwan, a major bully for Beijing, Trump did not answer directly, but said: “I will have that discussion with President Xi.”
“President Xi would like us not to do this, and I will have this discussion. This is one of the many things I will talk about,” he said, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office.
Trump, after referring to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, said of Taiwan, “I don’t think it’s going to happen.”
“I think we will be fine. I have a very good relationship with President Xi. He knows I don’t want that to happen,” he said.
But Trump also noted that the United States was “very, very far” compared to China.
Asked for a response to Trump’s comments, Taiwan’s foreign ministry vowed to “continue to strengthen cooperation” with the United States, the island’s main security supporter, and “build effective deterrence capabilities to jointly maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”
Congress supports Taiwan
The United States recognizes only Beijing, but is required by domestic law to provide weapons for the defense of Taiwan, a self-governing democracy that China claims as its own.
Under the 1982 “Six Assurances,” a key basis of US Taiwan policy after the change in recognition, the United States said it would not “consult” with Beijing about selling arms to the island.
Trump has long chided allies for not spending enough on their defense. Days before his trip to China, Taiwan’s parliament approved a $25 billion defense spending bill on Friday, though it fell short of the government’s proposal.
Pointing to the parliamentary vote, a group of US senators led by Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Trump should immediately green light a $14 billion arms package for Taiwan.
“We urge you and your team to make clear that America’s support for Taiwan is unwavering,” wrote the senators, mostly Democrats but including two centrists from Trump’s Republican Party.
While discussing economic concerns, Trump should also state that “US support for Taiwan is non-negotiable,” they wrote.
New sanctions on Iran
Trump delayed the trip once because of the war he started with Israel against Iran, which is still rejecting his appeals for a deal.
China is the main international customer for Iran’s oil, which Trump has tried to stop all countries from buying through unilateral US sanctions.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a interview On Sunday with CBS News’ 60 Minutes, he said he was unhappy that Beijing had shared missile technology with Iran.
Trump’s Treasury Department on Monday issued sanctions against 12 individuals and entities it said facilitated the sale and shipment of Iranian oil to China.
The sanctions came even as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent prepared to host Trump’s visit during talks with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in Seoul on Wednesday.
Bessent and Ai have been the chief negotiators for the United States and China on all trade and economic issues.
In Beijing on Monday, foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said high-level diplomacy was “irreplaceable” between the two countries.
“China is willing to work with the United States in the spirit of equality, respect and mutual benefit, to expand cooperation, manage differences and inject more stability and security into an unstable and intertwined world,” he told a briefing.
Asked about US pressure on Iran, Guo said only that China’s position on Iran was “consistent” and that Beijing would continue to play a “positive role” in promoting the ceasefire and peace talks.
Trump and Xi last met face-to-face in October on the sidelines of a regional summit in South Korea.
They then agreed to a year-long truce in a bitter trade war that saw tariffs on many goods exceed 100 percent.
