Xi to Push Trump to Halt Taiwan Arms Sales — SkimNews
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- Xi Jinping is expected to demand the US halt arms sales to Taiwan when he meets Trump in Washington this week, with Beijing calling the island its "single most important and sensitive issue" and a "core of core interests" red line
- China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, though it says it prefers "peaceful reunification"; it launched major war games around the island in 2022 after then-House Speaker Pelosi visited Taipei
- The Trump administration approved an $11 billion arms sales package to Taiwan in December — its largest ever to the island — the same month China held its most recent major exercises nearby
- Taiwan rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims, with President Lai Ching-te saying the island is already an independent country (the Republic of China); Beijing has rebuffed his repeated offers of talks and refuses to call him "president," labeling him a "separatist"
- The US severed official ties with Taipei in 1979 but is bound by the Taiwan Relations Act to provide defensive means, and the 1982 Six Assurances state there is no end date for arms sales and no prior consultation with Beijing
- Trump said in May he would call Lai — a call that has yet to happen — though President-elect Trump held a 10-minute call with then-President Tsai Ing-wen in late 2016 that drew only a "relatively mild" Chinese diplomatic complaint
Why it matters: Beijing's demand that the US halt Taiwan arms sales puts Trump in direct collision with the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, which legally obliges Washington to arm Taipei — a constraint Xi's "red line" cannot unilaterally override at the summit table.
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