In December, President Trump roused China’s ire by approving an $11 billion arms package to Taiwan. Now, he has raised matching concerns in Taiwan and among Democrats in Washington by saying that he is discussing future such arms sales with President Xi of China first.
On the surface, that appears to be a big concession to Xi, made in a response to questions about the possibility of another weapons deal with Taiwan.
“I’m talking to him [Xi] about it,” Trump said this week. “We had a good conversation, and we’ll make a determination pretty soon. We have a very good relationship with President Xi.”
That arms sales to Taiwan could be part of wider negotiations with China — in effect, becoming a bargaining chip — is a breach of the previous assurances or at least assumptions on which Taiwan’s officials thought they could rely. Trump’s words “overturned a stance upheld by the US government’s executive branch for years,” Chieh Chung, from the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, told the Taipei Times.
Trump has been caught in a bind since before he took office as president just over a year ago. Washington hardliners have been demanding a toughening of the US position on China; “America First” supporters say he should focus on the US and its neighbours, while his own instincts favour a “deals-based” approach.
In practice, he has veered between all three, undermining Taiwan with tariffs, agreeing arms deals with its government, but also seeking closer ties with Xi through trade talks.
That came to a head with the US state department announcement in December, less than two months after Trump met Xi for a summit in South Korea, authorising the $11 billion arms package. The package notably included Himars (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System), Atacms (Army Tactical Missile System) and anti-tank missile systems that have previously figured prominently among the weapons provided to Ukraine for defence against Russia.
Taiwanese soldiers stand guard in Taichung last month and, below, a training exercise
RITCHIE B TONGO/EPA
Washington is now vacillating on another big arms deal that was under consideration, according to reports.
Xi specifically raised the issue in a telephone conversation with Trump on February 4, one of two he held that day — the other was a video call with President Putin of Russia.
The Chinese side’s read-out of the call was explicit. “President Xi emphasised that the Taiwan question is the most important issue in China-US relations,” it read. “Taiwan is China’s territory. China must safeguard its own sovereignty and territorial integrity, and will never allow Taiwan to be separated. The US must handle the issue of arms sales to Taiwan with prudence.”
The statement hinted that Xi felt he had been betrayed by Trump over the December announcement. Noting that the summit in South Korea had been “welcomed by the people of both countries and the broader international community”, it added: “China always means what it says and matches its words with actions and results.”
Trump is due to travel to Beijing in April for his first visit to China since returning to office last year. There has been no clear threat by the Chinese side to cancel the visit over the arms issue, but Beijing has been noticeably less forthcoming about the details than Trump.
Trump and Xi in South Korea, in October
MARK SCHIEFELBEIN/AP
The Wall Street Journal claimed on Tuesday that the next arms deal with Taiwan was “in limbo” in Washington for fear of derailing the visit. It said the planned new deal was likely to include Patriot missile interception systems.
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Taiwan’s relationship with the United States is set out in a series of often deliberately ambiguous statements made by American governments and Congress after Washington formally switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1978.
The US acknowledged Beijing’s claim to rule over all of China, including Taiwan, without taking sides, but also agreed to help Taiwan’s self-defence against forceful reunification, including with arms sales.
In 1982, the Reagan administration communicated the “six assurances” to Taiwan, a key one of them being that the US had “not agreed to prior consultation on arms sales” with Beijing. Taiwan’s defence analysts are suggesting that Trump’s comments implied he had breached this assurance.
Ro Khanna, the outspoken Democrat congressman who is a key figure on the congressional committee monitoring US-China relations, said Trump’s words were a “stain on America’s global credibility … Trump’s admission that he is discussing future US arms sales to Taiwan with Xi is alarming and a blatant violation of US policy and the six assurances.
“His statement shows just how Trump treats Taiwan as a ‘bargaining chip’ in trade negotiations with China. It shows he is more eager to make bad deals with America’s strategic competitors than strengthen ties with long-standing friends like Taiwan.”