📰 General · CNN
Live updates: Xi hails US-China relations as world’s most consequential, but warns Trump on Taiwan - CNN
From CNN via USVI News: US President Donald Trump is on a rare trip to China to meet with leader Xi Jinping for talks, already once delayed due to the US-Israeli war with Iran. Follow for live updates.
Presdent Trump failed to make any explicit commitment to greenlighting arms sales to Taiwan in what CNN chief national security analyst Jim Sciutto called a "win" for Beijing. Analysing remarks given by the president to reporters as he returned from his state visit to China, Scuitto said China will undoubtedly relieved that President Trump said he had made "no commitment either way" when it comes to Taiwan.
After two days of talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, President Donald Trump refused to commit to an arms sale with Taiwan in a move that marks a win for China.
Aboard Air Force One, Trump told reporters that he and Xi discussed Taiwan “in great detail” during their meetings but declined to answer directly about whether the US would defend Taiwan in the event of a conflict with China. Trump added that on the arms sale to Taiwan, “I’ll make a determination over the next early short period of time.”
But a pause, if we could read it that way, would be a win for China. While Trump could still change, of course, and commit to an arms deal, his comments that he’ll think about it leave an opening for the Chinese leader.
The president also echoed Xi’s lines on the issue, telling reporters that Xi argued during their talks that China had Taiwan for thousands of years and he “doesn’t want to see a movement for independence.”
Under the longstanding “One China” policy, the US acknowledges China’s position that Taiwan is part of China but has never officially recognized the Communist Party’s claim to the self-governing island.
Washington maintains robust unofficial relations with Taiwan and has sold billions of dollars in advanced weapons to the island, with bipartisan approval, but has remained intentionally ambiguous on whether it would intervene militarily in the event of a Chinese attack.
Under the decades-old Taiwan Relations Act, Washington is also bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself. But some US and Taiwanese officials have long feared that Trump may be inclined to use Taiwan as a bargaining chip with China.
CNN’s Kaanita Iyer, Jennifer Hansler, Zachary Cohen and Isabelle Khurshudyan contributed reporting.
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