Chinese leader Xi Jinping is expected to press President Donald Trump to halt US arms sales to Taiwan in talks this week, Reuters reported, fueling Taipei’s concerns over a frozen $14 billion deal that Trump has described as “a very good negotiating chip.”
Taiwan has encouraged firms to invest in the US with the view that “building structural interdependence [assures] our national security,” a Taiwanese expert said.
But Trump’s past criticism of the island “betrays a clear preference” to minimize Taiwan in favor of other US-China priorities, a former Obama adviser argued.
In Trump’s “unpredictability on US commitments,” Beijing sees a “rare window of opportunity” to exert more influence on the island, a Taiwanese government minister told The Wall Street Journal.