Taiwan shares a “rock solid” relationship with the United States, its president has insisted – despite talks between US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping over the self-governed island’s future.
During a phone call on Wednesday, Mr Xi warned his American counterpart to be “prudent” about giving arms to Taiwan, the Chinese Foreign Ministry claimed.
Last December, the US announced it would ship more than $11.1bn of weapons to the island – its largest package ever.
“The Taiwan-US relationship is rock solid, and all cooperation projects will continue uninterrupted,” Taiwan President Lai Ching-te told reporters during a visit to textile merchants in western Taiwan.
Taiwan is a self-governing island that China claims as its own and is willing to use force to reclaim, prompting fears of a future invasion.
Beijing even prohibits all countries with which it has diplomatic relations, including the US, from having formal ties with Taipei.
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It means the US does not recognise Taiwan as a nation state – but still remains its biggest backer.
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After Mr Trump and Mr Xi’s phone call, the Chinese foreign ministry shared a readout of the conversation.
It said: “President Xi emphasised that the Taiwan question is the most important issue in China – US relations. Taiwan is China’s territory.
“China must safeguard its own sovereignty and territorial integrity, and will never allow Taiwan to be separated.
“The US must handle the issue of arms sales to Taiwan with prudence.”
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For his own part, Mr Trump took to Truth Social to celebrate the successful call – but made no mention of China’s firm words on Taiwan.
He said: “The relationship with China, and my personal relationship with President Xi, is an extremely good one, and we both realise how important it is to keep it that way.”
The $11.1bn arms shipment announced in December is not over the line yet, having still not been approved by Congress.
There has also been significant pushback to the deal from within China, which conducted military drills around Taiwan in response.
