Trump says he made no Taiwan commitment to Xi after Beijing summit

President Donald Trump said Thursday he held wide-ranging talks about Taiwan with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a high-stakes Beijing summit but made no commitment on the issue — including on whether the United States would continue selling arms to the self-governing island.

The remarks expose the enduring contradiction at the heart of U.S.-China diplomacy: American law requires Washington to arm Taiwan for its own defense even as official U.S. policy recognizes only Beijing — and China has never ruled out using military force against the democratically governed island.

"President Xi and I talked a lot about Taiwan," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on the return flight to Washington, according to the Korea Times. "On Taiwan he feels very strongly. I made no commitment either way."

Trump described Xi as firmly opposed to any push for Taiwanese independence. "He does not want to see a fight for independence," Trump said. When pressed on how he responded to Xi's position, the president said: "I didn't make a comment on it, I heard him out."

Before the summit, Trump had signaled his intention to raise the subject of U.S. arms sales to Taiwan directly with Xi — a departure from longstanding American practice of not consulting Beijing on such transfers. On when he expects to reach a decision, Trump said: "I'll make a determination over the next fairly short period of time."

The United States operates under a one-China policy that formally recognizes only Beijing, while the Taiwan Relations Act requires Washington to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself. China, which views Taiwan as a breakaway province, has vowed to bring the island under its control and has not ruled out the use of military force to do so.

The Taiwan question remains among the sharpest flashpoints in U.S.-China relations. Any shift in the American posture on arms sales would carry sweeping implications for regional stability across the Asia-Pacific — a region of particular concern for Korean Americans who maintain deep family and commercial ties there.

China has long insisted Taiwan is its own territory and has refused to abandon the option of military force to achieve unification. No amount of summit diplomacy has altered the legal reality: the Taiwan Relations Act binds each successive U.S. administration to ensure the island can defend itself, regardless of the state of relations with Beijing.