Taiwan Presses Trump for Arms Sales Clarity After Xi Summit Ends With No Breakthroughs

Since President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping ended their three-day Washington summit on Friday, September 25, with no public breakthroughs on Taiwan, Taipei has been left seeking clarity from Washington.

Taiwan's Deputy Foreign Minister Francois Wu told reporters in Taipei on Saturday that arming Taiwan remains squarely in America's own interest, not just Taiwan's. "Allowing Taiwan's semiconductor industry to continue contributing to the world, these are important US interests," Wu said, according to Reuters. Taiwan produces the overwhelming majority of the advanced chips that power the global AI boom, and Wu's point is simple: keeping Beijing from taking the island by force protects a supply chain the entire world, including China, depends on.

Trump has gone quiet on the subject. Back in May, after meeting Xi in Beijing, Trump said he was holding a Taiwan arms package "in abeyance." He has made no public comment on Taiwan since this week's summit wrapped, leaving open whether that pause continues, according to Reuters.

The stakes are real money and real hardware. The Trump administration approved an $11 billion arms sale to Taiwan in December, the largest single package ever. A second package, worth roughly $14 billion, is still pending. Wu said Taipei has been in "continuous communication" with Washington but is bracing for more uncertainty, since Trump and Xi are expected to meet twice more this year at the APEC and G20 summits. "Of course, if we can get guarantees, that would be best," Wu said. "I think what we can do right now is probably the maximum, which is to prepare as much as possible, communicate as much as possible, and make requests as much as possible."

Beijing's Red Line, Restated

China's response came fast. The People's Daily, the Communist Party's official mouthpiece, reiterated on Saturday that Taiwan is "the core of China's core interests and the first unbreakable red line in China-US relations," according to Reuters. Xi told Trump directly during the summit that he hoped Washington would keep opposing Taiwan independence, calling it the "correct position," per multiple wire reports.

U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue pushed back on any notion that Trump is softening. He told CNBC on Friday there has been no change in Taiwan policy, including the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act that legally mandates U.S. arms sales to the island. "We want peace across the strait. We don't want coercion. We don't support independence," Perdue said, adding that Xi "has gotten that message."

Taiwan's own diplomats are hedging their language rather than celebrating a clear win. Wu's repeated emphasis on "if we can get guarantees" and preparing for the "maximum" suggests real uncertainty in Taipei about whether Trump will actually release the pending $14 billion package or continue slow-walking it to keep trade talks with Beijing smooth. That's a legitimate concern for an ally whose defense depends on Washington's follow-through, not just its rhetoric. Nothing in the record shows Trump has made any concession on Taiwan specifically. Wang Hung-jen, a political science professor at National Cheng Kung University, told Reuters the summit outcome was "better than had been expected," since Xi apparently didn't press arms sales as the central issue.

Iran Came Up Too

The summit wasn't just about Taiwan. Perdue told the Epoch Times that Trump warned Xi directly that any Chinese support for Iran, whether direct or indirect, including intelligence, parts, or military equipment, is "unacceptable." Perdue said there's evidence Beijing has responded: "They pulled some things down, and we have evidence that they pay attention when President Trump talks about this particular issue."

The Epoch Times also flagged something the wire coverage from CNBC, Reuters, and outlets like Hindustan Times and Asia One largely skipped over: Chinese officials tightly restricted press access to Xi throughout the visit. There was no joint press conference. Reporters were barred from the Oval Office during the leaders' meeting. When American journalists unexpectedly got close to Xi during a White House tour and asked about Hong Kong political prisoner Jimmy Lai, Xi said nothing. Trump stepped in and called the meeting "great." At the state dinner, military musicians performed "Do You Hear the People Sing?" from Les Misérables, a song banned in China for its association with Hong Kong protests, a detail that circulated on social media after a White House official posted a clip, per the Epoch Times.

None of that changes the arms sales math. The $14 billion package sits unaddressed, Trump has said nothing new about it, and Xi and Trump are due to meet twice more before the year ends. Whether Taipei gets its guarantee, or gets left in abeyance again, is still an open question with real consequences for the world's chip supply.