Chinese President Xi Jinping told President Trump in a phone call on Wednesday that Taiwan is the “most important issue” in US-China relations, according to Beijing’s readout of the conversation.
“President Xi emphasized that the Taiwan question is the most important issue in China-US relations,” the Chinese readout said. “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 conversation came a little more than a month after China launched major military drills around Taiwan simulating a blockade in response to the Trump administration approving a series of arms sales to Taipei worth more than $11 billion, a higher dollar amount than all weapons sales for the island approved by the Biden administration.
According to the Chinese readout, President Trump said that he understands “how China feels about the Taiwan question.” In his statement on the call, Trump said they discussed Taiwan and several other issues that were not mentioned in China’s readout.
“It was a long and thorough call, where many important subjects were discussed, including Trade, Military, the April trip that I will be making to China (which I very much look forward to!), Taiwan, the War between Russia/Ukraine, the current situation with Iran, the purchase of Oil and Gas by China from the United States, the consideration by China of the purchase of additional Agricultural products including lifting the Soybean count to 20 Million Tons for the current season (They have committed to 25 Million Tons for next season!), Airplane engine deliveries, and numerous other subjects, all very positive!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The US president added that he believes the US-China relationship and his relationship with Xi are “extremely good” and that positive developments will occur between the two countries for the remainder of his term, but the Chinese readout shows there is significant tensions over US support for Taiwan.
