Taipei breathed a sigh of relief this week after President Donald Trump avoided publicly addressing Taiwan during his summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, easing fears that the US might abandon its longstanding support for the island democracy. Observers had warned that the unpredictable American leader could use Taiwan as a bargaining chip in negotiations with Beijing, but Trump’s muted approach at Thursday’s meeting and the subsequent White House readout, which omitted any mention of Taiwan, suggested the status quo remained intact.
Before the talks, Xi adopted a firm tone, declaring that “Taiwan independence” and peace in the Taiwan Strait were “incompatible”. Non-resident fellow Wen-Ti Sung of the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub said Xi’s language was “surprisingly firm for summit diplomacy”, intended to signal that Taiwan was a “reddest of red lines” for Beijing. Xi warned that mishandling the issue could push Sino-US relations into a “very dangerous situation”.
Taiwan’s foreign ministry quickly retorted that “the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to one another”. However, analysts suggested Taipei was quietly pleased. William Yang of the Crisis Group said the island “would welcome Taiwan being mentioned as little as possible”, adding that Taipei had already “breathed a sigh of relief” that Trump did not offer any concessions.
The summit came amid US arms sales to Taiwan, including an $11 billion package announced in December and a further $14 billion deal awaiting approval. Taiwan’s parliament recently passed a defence budget to facilitate those purchases. Some commentators had feared Trump might trade US support for Taiwan in exchange for Beijing’s help on Iran, but Xi’s remarks indicated he did not want to place Taiwan within such a framework, according to Alexander Huang of the Council on Strategic and Wargaming Studies.
