Taiwanese 105mm wheeled armored vehicle participates in a live fire demonstration in Tainan on September 23, 2026 (Photo: CHENG Yu-chen/AFP via Getty Images)
Chen Yucheng | AFP | Getty Images
It is in America’s national interest for the United States to protect Taiwan’s freedom and provide arms to provide semiconductors to the world, a senior Taiwanese diplomat said Saturday after a summit of Chinese and American presidents.
President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping ended a three-day summit on Friday with no public progress on a number of contentious issues, including Taiwan, which China considers its territory.
President Xi told President Trump in Washington on Thursday that he hoped the United States would uphold its “correct position” in opposing Taiwan’s independence.
Vice Foreign Minister François Wu asked reporters in Taipei whether it was actually in the United States’ interests to make concessions on Taiwan.
Maintaining military sales, giving Taiwan sufficient self-defense capabilities so it doesn’t have to live under Chinese control, and “allowing Taiwan’s semiconductor industry to continue contributing to the world. These are important interests of the United States,” Wu said.
Taiwan, whose government rejects Beijing’s claims of sovereignty, is a major producer of advanced chips powering the AI revolution.
After meeting with Xi in Beijing in May, President Trump said he was putting plans to sell arms to Taiwan on hold, but he has yet to comment on what he will do about Taiwan or the pending arms sales plan after the Washington meeting.
weapons sales
Wang Hung-zhen, a political science professor at Taiwan’s National Cheng Kung University, said the results of the summit so far have been better than expected, with Xi clearly not calling for direct arms sales and Taiwan not being the main focus.
“If you look at the results, a lot of things that we thought were going to be very bad didn’t happen,” he said.
Wu said the government was in “continuous communication” with the US government about the summit.
In December, the Trump administration approved an $11 billion arms sale to Taiwan, the largest ever, and a second arms sale will be even more valuable, at about $14 billion.
As for whether a decision on the matter could be further delayed, Wu said the government would need to pay close attention, as Xi and Trump are expected to meet twice more this year at APEC and G20 summits.
“Of course, it would be best if we could get a guarantee,” he added. “I think all we can do now is prepare as much as we can, contact them as much as we can, and ask for as many requests as we can.”
U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue told CNBC on Friday that there are no changes to President Trump’s Taiwan policy, including the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act that mandated arms sales to the island.
“We want peace across the Strait. We don’t want coercion. We don’t support independence and, you know, we think President Xi got that message. President Trump has shown respect and listened to their side of the argument,” Perdue said.
China’s top newspaper People’s Daily reiterated in an editorial on Saturday that Taiwan is “the core of China’s core interests and the first uncrossable line in China-US relations.”
