Xi to Press Trump on Halting Taiwan Arms Sales at DC Summit — SkimNews
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- Xi Jinping is expected to raise Taiwan arms sales during his Washington visit (formal talks Thursday, National Archives Friday), citing the 1982 joint communiqué in which the US said it intended to gradually reduce arms sales to Taiwan — though Reagan's accompanying memo conditioned that reduction on China's peaceful approach.
- China has also asked the US to halt deliveries of weapons Taiwan has already ordered, and is offering help pressuring Iran over the Middle East war in exchange, according to three sources briefed on the discussions.
- Trump approved an $11 billion Taiwan arms package in December — the largest ever — while a separate $14 billion package has been on hold since a May Beijing summit, which Trump called a "very good negotiating chip."
- The White House said Trump will decide on the new arms package "in a fairly short time," noting Trump approved more Taiwan arms in his first term than any president in history and exceeded all four Biden years in his first year of the second term.
- Republican lawmakers are publicly pushing back on any concessions: Sen. Pete Ricketts urged Trump to take a firm line, Rep. John Moolenaar wrote that Chinese objections should be "rejected out of hand," and former deputy NSA Matt Pottinger predicted Xi would "lecture at length" Trump on Taiwan.
- Beijing has sharply escalated military activity around Taiwan over the past five years, including war games with live missile tests and near-daily operations, while its People's Daily warned that mishandling Taiwan could push US-China ties "toward a very dangerous situation."
- The Six Assurances — issued in 1982 but declassified only in 2020 — state the US has not set a date for ending arms sales to Taiwan nor agreed to prior consultation with Beijing on such sales.
Why it matters: A $14 billion arms package sits in limbo as Trump's personal bargaining chip, and Republican support for Taiwan is publicly mobilising ahead of the meeting — meaning any concession Xi extracts would land Trump in a domestic political fight while simultaneously reshaping US posture toward Beijing and Tehran simultaneously.
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