The White House factsheet made no mention of Taiwan, but the issue was clearly a priority for Xi Jinping.
According to Beijing’s accounts of the talks, Xi urged Donald Trump to formally oppose Taiwan independence and handle the issue with caution.
After their previous meeting in May, Trump revealed that Xi directly asked him if the US would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack.
He told reporters, “There’s only one person that knows that, and it is me,” and he raised the question whether it made sense for US forces to “travel 9,500 miles to fight a war” over the issue.
This time, Trump disclosed far less.
“We didn’t talk about it too much,” he told reporters over the weekend.
“Right now, it’s fine. It’s just moving along,” Trump said. “He understands very much how I feel.”
That silence may be significant.
Trump has previously described a proposed $14bn US arms package for Taiwan as “a very good negotiating chip” in his dealings with Beijing. The arms package has been on hold for months.
Adding to the confusion, US Ambassador to China David Perdue told Fox News that Trump had offered to sell weapons to Xi during the summit.
The State Department later clarified that US law prohibits arms sales to China and there are no plans to do so.
Beijing sees the self-governing island as part of China. Most countries, including the United States, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but Washington is opposed to any attempt to take the island by force and is committed to supplying it with weapons.
