Trump Mum On Taiwan After Meeting With Xi

US President Donald Trump has maintained a strategic silence on Taiwan after his latest trip to China for a summit with President Xi Jinping.

The development assumes significance as Xi had made known his fierce opposition to any US interference on Taiwan, a self-ruled island which China considers its territory.

In December, the US approved a $11.5 billion arms sale package to Taiwan, which spurred a critical response from China. China had then accused the US of violating the “one-China principle.” Taiwan’s ruling party has repeatedly rejected that claim.

Ahead of the China visit, Trump has said he expected the issue of arms sales to Taiwan to figure in talks. However, US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, who accompanied Trump, was asked whether Xi raised the issue of arms sale to Taiwan and requested the US not to proceed with it. Rubio dodged the query saying the issue may have been discussed in the past, but did not feature in Xi-Trump talks.

The White House official handout after Trump’s meeting with Xi did not have any reference to Taiwan.

It was after this meeting that China issued a high-profile statement saying any mishandling of the issue of Taiwan by the US will put ties with China in jeopardy. Xi stressed in unequivocal terms that Taiwan is the most important issue in China-U.S. relations, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The US does not formally recognise Taiwan and reiterates a ‘one China’ policy while maintaining unofficial ties with Taipei.

Trump said in an Fox News interview after his meeting with the Chinese leadership that the US policy on Taiwan remains “unchanged”.

Trump said he is “not looking to have somebody go independent” counting on the US backing, in an oblique reference to Taiwan.

He also remained non-committal fast tracking the US arms sale to the island, saying,”I may do it, I may not do it.”

Trump also had earlier dodged a query on whether the US would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack. A 1979 act facilitates the transfer of weapons to “enable Taiwan to maintain sufficient self-defense capabilities.”

Taiwan interprets that the comments by Trump and Rubio signal that US policy toward the island remains unchanged, though it is not clear if this has a positive impact.

Taiwan’s semiconductor industry is seen as a reason why the US considers it crucial factor in for its technology industry. The US also considers China as its main competitor in trade and technology. Taiwan accounts for around 60–70% of the world’s outsourced chip manufacturing. Roughly 90% of the world’s most advanced chips are made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company.

The US leads in the design component of chips, but is reliant on Taiwan for manufacturing it. These chips are at the core of data centers and cloud computing, and any supply disruption would hamper the functions of US-based tech giants.

NVIDIA chief executive Jensen Huang had accompanied Trump to Beijing, hoping to clinch a deal with China on chips, but that remains in limbo.