President Donald Trump has yet to make a determination on the delayed American arms sale to Taiwan, an issue that Chinese President Xi Jinping raised during their closed-door talks.
Trump left Beijing on Friday following the two-day summit, and he spoke with reporters for roughly a half-hour en route to Air Force One’s refueling stop in Alaska.
Trump confirmed that he and Xi discussed Taiwan a lot, reiterating that Xi is firmly against Taiwanese independence and that the two leaders had a “very good understanding” of the issue.
The president said that he didn’t “think” that Taiwan would drag the U.S. into “conflict” with China.
“[Xi] doesn’t want to see a war,” he stated. “He doesn’t want to see a movement for independence. He says, ‘Look, you know, we’ve had it for thousands of years, and then had a certain period of time and left, and we were going to get it back, and the Korean War and a lot of things happened with all this.’”
“Taiwan, he feels very strongly. I made no commitment,” Trump continued, adding that he would “make a determination” soon but not before speaking to Taiwanese President William Lai.
The United States has sold weapons to Taiwan for decades, and a bipartisan group of senators had pressured Trump to greenlight a new arms sale to Taiwan before leaving for Beijing. The U.S. approved a transfer last year, but the shipment has been delayed for months.
ALLIES SAY XI HAS NOT SHOT AT CONVINCING TRUMP TO CHANGE TAIWAN POLICY
Before Trump left Washington, D.C., White House officials told the Washington Examiner that “there has been no change in U.S. policy with regards to Taiwan.”
You can watch Trump’s comments in full below.