US-China-Taiwan: 75 Years of Flashpoints Before Trump-Xi Summit
SkimNews Take
The consistent re-emergence of historical flashpoints in U.S.-China-Taiwan relations demonstrates how deeply embedded past conflicts are in shaping contemporary diplomatic priorities, making future policy shifts inherently constrained by historical precedent.
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- Trump is set to meet Xi in Beijing this week (May 12), with Taiwan the central issue; China claims the island as its territory while Taipei rejects those claims
- The 1979 One China Policy saw Washington switch diplomatic recognition to Beijing, but the same year's Taiwan Relations Act obligates the US to help Taipei defend itself; Reagan reinforced this in 1982 with the Six Assurances
- The 1996 Third Taiwan Strait Crisis saw Beijing fire missiles into waters near Taiwan after its first direct presidential vote; the US dispatched aircraft carriers, and Lee Teng-hui won the vote by a landslide
- In December 2016, President-elect Trump broke decades of US diplomatic precedent by speaking directly by phone with Taiwan's Tsai Ing-wen, and in March 2018 he signed legislation encouraging senior-level US-Taiwan exchanges
- August 2022: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei despite Beijing's warning, after which China held war games around Taiwan; Beijing held three more days of drills in April 2023 after Tsai met then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy in Los Angeles
- December 2025: The Trump administration approved $11 billion in arms sales to Taiwan — the largest ever — and China responded with its most extensive war games around the island to date, aimed at showcasing its ability to cut off outside support in a conflict
Why it matters: The Trump-Xi meeting lands just months after the administration's record $11 billion Taiwan arms sale triggered China's most extensive-ever war games around the island. Taiwan is the only issue to have triggered three military crises since 1954, and Trump's 2016 phone call with Tsai already showed his willingness to break precedent — the Beijing summit tests whether that posture produces stability or escalation.
