President Trump is no longer expected to speak with Taiwan President Lai Ching-te ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s trip to the United States this fall, multiple sources familiar with the talks told CBS News.
When Mr. When Trump visited China earlier this month, Xi warned him that Taiwan could become a “very dangerous situation” if not handled properly.
Mr. Trump twice made headlines around the world in mid-May when he indicated he would hold talks with Lai before making a decision about selling a new package of self-defense weapons to the self-governing island.
“I’ll talk to him,” Mr. Trump told reporters last week when asked if he could talk to Lai before greenlighting the arms sale.
“I have to talk to the person at the moment – you know who he is – who is in charge of Taiwan,” said Mr. Trump two weeks ago on Air Force One.
No US president has spoken directly to Taiwan’s leader since 1979 because of the political sensitivity of handling relations with China, although in December 2016, when Mr. a congratulatory call since then Taiwan President Tsai Ying-wen.
“I think [Lai]if he has time, he would like to tell him our side of the story, the story of Taiwan, which is another – of resilience, of a state that does not resist Chinese aggression,” Alexander Yui, Taiwan’s Representative to the US, told “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on May 17.
Taiwan’s ambassador to the US told CBS News this week that it is still waiting to hear from the US about the phone call.
A White House official referred CBS News to the president’s comments.
The Chinese Communist Party has long vowed to “unify” the island with mainland China, and the military’s power is always at risk. After Mr. Trump spoke about the possible phone call, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that Beijing is against any “legal exchange between the US and the Taiwan region of China, and the sale of US arms to Taiwan is consensual, clear and firm.”
In the trip of Mr. During Trump’s two days in Beijing, where he said he spoke “in great detail” with Xi about the arms sale to Taipei, the president also told Fox News that he plans to seize arms “uncontrollably,” depending on what China does. He suggested that arming Taiwan could be a useful “bargaining chip” for the US, but did not elaborate.
Under the Reagan-era agreement known as the Six Assurances, the US promised not to cut off arms sales to Taiwan, and not to consult with Beijing about such sales.
“So what am I going to do? You’re not saying I don’t want to talk to you about it because I have an agreement that was signed in 1982?” No. We discussed arms sales,” Trump told reporters on his return from China.
The last US arms sale to Taiwan, totaling $11 billion, was announced by the administration in December last year. Next A $14 billion package it has been under consideration since January but has not yet been greenlit by the State Department and is awaiting the signature of Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Acting Secretary of the Army Hung Cao he told Congress earlier this month that the sale was wear “break” to ensure that the US military has sufficient weapons for its operations in Iran. A source familiar with the arms sale later told CBS News that the delay had nothing to do with Iran and that the president was expected to make a decision soon.
“Taiwan and the United States maintain open and smooth communication as the US government ensures that its long-term policy on Taiwan remains unchanged, and supports the status quo and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO), Taiwan’s embassy in the US, said in a CBS statement.
Mr. Trump invited Xi to visit on September 24, the White House announced, although China has not yet accepted the invitation.
Qiu Wenxing, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Chinese Embassy in Washington, DC, told reporters on Wednesday that although Xi has agreed to visit the US in the fall, “a date must be decided,” and added that “favorable conditions must be created before such an important state visit.”
Although there is no scheduled call with Taipei, two sources said that Mr. Trump always likes to keep options open.
