US President Donald Trump speaks throughout a maternal healthcare occasion within the Oval Workplace of the White Home in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, Could 11, 2026.
Aaron Schwartz | Bloomberg | Getty Pictures
President Donald Trump stated Monday that U.S. arms gross sales to Taiwan and the imprisonment of Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai can be on his agenda for the Beijing summit later this week.
Washington’s arms gross sales to Taiwan have been a flashpoint between the 2 international locations, drawing a pointy response from Beijing that has accused the U.S. of violating the “one-China precept,” and warned that makes an attempt to “comprise China” by way of Taipei have been set to fail.
When requested about Washington’s longstanding help for Taiwan’s protection, Trump stated Monday that, “I’ll have that dialogue with President Xi.” “President Xi would really like us to not, and I am going to have that dialogue. That is one of many many issues I will be speaking about.”
That comes after Beijing reportedly pressed the Trump administration to reduce its safety commitments for the island.
Trump is anticipated to fulfill Chinese language chief Xi Jinping in Beijing on Thursday for talks masking a wide-ranging agenda, with Iran warfare, commerce, uncommon earth export controls, and Taiwan among the many central points.
The Trump administration has reportedly not moved forward with arms deliveries following a report $11 billion weapons package deal for Taiwan, licensed in December, forward of the presidential summit.
“By aiding Taiwan’s independence by way of arms gross sales, the U.S. will solely find yourself harming itself. Any try to make use of Taiwan to comprise China is doomed to fail,” Chinese language overseas ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun had stated in December.
Final Friday, Taiwanese lawmakers permitted a particular protection price range of $25 billion to purchase missiles and different weapons from the U.S., nicely in need of the $40 billion quantity sought by the federal government to counter the more and more aggressive Chinese language army.
Any rhetorical softening from Trump, even an ambiguous one, can be “essentially the most destabilizing consequence” of the summit, stated Bonnie Glaser, managing director of the Indo-Pacific program on the German Marshall Fund of america.
“A tacit or express discount by which Washington seems to concede a sphere of affect to Beijing over Taiwan” in change for concessions elsewhere may embolden China to take extra assertive steps to erode Taiwan’s autonomy, Glaser stated.
China claims the democratically ruled island as its personal territory — a declare that Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Celebration rejects.
Chinese language officers have described Taiwan as “the largest level of threat” within the bilateral relationship with the U.S., urging it to “maintain its promise and make the precise decisions to open up new area for China-U.S. cooperation.”
Lai’s launch
Trump stated he deliberate to once more advocate for the Lai’s launch. In February, a Hong Kong courtroom sentenced Lai to twenty years in jail on costs of colluding with overseas forces.
“Jimmy Lai — he brought on a lot of turmoil for China. He tried to do the precise factor. He wasn’t profitable, went to jail, and other people would really like him out, and I would prefer to see him out too,” Trump stated on Monday. He had beforehand referred to as for Lai’s launch in a gathering with Xi on the sidelines of the APEC summit in October final 12 months.
In the meantime, Beijing has made it clear that Lai “must be severely punished in keeping with the regulation” whereas accusing overseas governments of interfering in Hong Kong’s judicial course of.
Professional-democracy advocate Lai, founding father of the now-shuttered Apple Every day newspaper, was convicted in December for collusion with overseas forces, endangering nationwide safety, and conspiracy to publish seditious supplies. The 78-year-old has been in detention for greater than 5 years whereas serving a separate jail time period on fraud costs.
The 20-year sentence was the longest handed out below the nationwide safety regulation launched in 2020, surpassing the 10-year time period given to activist Benny Tai, a former regulation professor who was convicted of conspiring to subvert state energy, in November 2024.
