US Lawmaker Urges Trump to Take Hard Line With Xi at Summit

The Republican head of the US congressional committee on China has called on President Donald Trump to adopt a firm stance in his summit with Xi Jinping next week, cautioning against concessions and pressing for stricter technology controls and consequences over China's alleged backing of Iran.

The appeal reflects unease among China hawks in Washington that Trump might give away too much in the meeting, which is intended to steady US-China relations.

In a letter to Trump, John Moolenaar, chairman of the House Select Committee on China, said the president should raise reports that Chinese entities supplied targeting assistance for Iranian strikes that killed US service members, calling such support a serious escalation.

Moolenaar said Trump should make plain to China's ruling Communist Party that helping adversaries such as Iran "is tantamount to an act of war against the United States and will be met with the most severe consequences."

He also urged renewed efforts to keep China from obtaining American artificial intelligence technologies and US and allied semiconductor manufacturing equipment, describing China as the United States' "foremost foreign adversary and greatest external threat."

China hardliners worry that Trump could weaken US backing for democratically governed Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own and which Washington is required by law to help defend.

Referring to Taiwan and US allies in Asia, Moolenaar said Chinese objections to American arms sales and security cooperation should be "rejected out of hand." He added that the administration must keep pressure on Beijing over the detention of US citizens, which he described as "hostage diplomacy."

Trump has said Xi raised US arms sales to Taiwan during his May visit to Beijing, after which the US president called a pending package worth up to $14 billion a "negotiating chip."

According to people familiar with Chinese efforts, Beijing also hopes to persuade Trump to state publicly that the US opposes Taiwan's independence, rather than only saying it does not support independence, Washington's formulation for decades.

Any US shift on Taiwan would be highly contentious, raising doubts about Washington's willingness to defend the island and drawing opposition in Congress.

On Sunday, Trump dismissed the report that Iran obtained satellite images of a base in Jordan from Chinese entities before an attack that killed three US troops there in July, saying both China and the US spy on each other.