BEIJING — The sensitive issue of Taiwan intruded Thursday on a high-stakes meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing.
Chinese officials, in a statement released after the lengthy sit-down, said that Xi “stressed to President Trump that the Taiwan question is the most important issue in China-U.S. relations.”
By contrast, a White House official conspicuously didn’t mention Taiwan in a statement to the media, while noting that the leaders discussed keeping the Strait of Hormuz open, as well as China purchasing U.S. agricultural products and ending the flow of fentanyl precursors.
U.S. allies were worried that Trump could end up disavowing U.S. support for Taiwan, perhaps even inadvertently, in his summit with Xi. U.S. policy on Taiwan has long been to acknowledge Taiwan as distinct from the People’s Republic of China, which claims the island as its territory. The island’s semiconductor industry is critical to the Trump administration’s efforts to create a secure supply chain for the U.S. technology sector.
“If it is handled properly, the bilateral relationship will enjoy overall stability. Otherwise, the two countries will have clashes and even conflicts, putting the entire relationship in great jeopardy,” the Chinese statement warned about Taiwan, which is a self-ruling island.
Beyond Taiwan, Beijing’s comments underscored its delicate balancing act on Iran, which the U.S. and Israel attacked in late February, triggering Tehran’s closure of a critical maritime waterway that has choked the flow of oil and gas.
China remains one of Tehran’s economic lifelines and a major buyer of Iranian oil, but it also relies heavily on stable energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz and has sought to avoid a wider regional conflict that could disrupt global trade and threaten its own economic interests.
The White House official, who called the Trump-Xi meeting at the Great Hall in Beijing “good,” said Xi “made clear China’s opposition to the militarization of the Strait and any effort to charge a toll for its use,” “expressed interest in purchasing more American oil to reduce China’s dependence on the Strait in the future,” and “agreed that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon.”
During the meeting, which lasted more than two hours, leaders also discussed enhancing economic cooperation, expanding market access for U.S. businesses into China and Chinese investments in U.S. industries, according to the American official.