U.S. president Donald Trump said that during his upcoming visit to Beijing he is willing to discuss selling. arms to Taiwan, while claiming his relationship with Chinese president Xi Jinping could help prevent future conflict.
Asked whether the United States should continue weapons sales to Taiwan, Trump said: “I’m going to have that discussion with President Xi,” adding that “President Xi would like us not to.”
The visit, scheduled from Wednesday, May 13th until Friday, will be the first by a U.S. president to China since 2017. The White House said Trump will be joined by business leaders including Elon Musk and Apple CEO Tim Cook, with talks expected to focus heavily on trade.
Trump downplayed the risk of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, saying:
I don’t think it’ll happen. I think we’ll be fine.
I have a very good relationship with President Xi. He knows I don’t want that to happen.
However, he also noted that the United States is “very, very far away” compared with China.
Taiwan’s foreign ministry said it would “continue to strengthen cooperation” with the United States and “build effective deterrence capabilities.”
