Xi to Press Trump on Taiwan Arms Sales at Washington Summit

China's Xi Jinping is expected to press US President Donald Trump to end arms sales to Taiwan when the two leaders meet in Washington this week, with Beijing likely to invoke its reading of a 1982 joint communique between the two countries, according to sources briefed on the matter.

Xi arrives in Washington on Wednesday, with formal talks scheduled for Thursday and a visit to the US National Archives on Friday. The sources said China may raise its interpretation of the third of the three joint communiques signed in 1982, under which Washington stated its intention to gradually reduce arms sales to Taiwan and not to pursue long-term weapons sales to Taipei.

An accompanying memo by then-President Ronald Reagan conditioned any US willingness to reduce such sales on China's continued commitment to a peaceful resolution of differences over Taiwan. A separate set of assurances issued the same year, declassified only in 2020, recorded that the US had not set a date for ending arms sales to Taiwan and had not agreed to prior consultation with Beijing on them.

Beijing, which views Taiwan as its own territory, has repeatedly called for an end to the sales. Taiwan's government rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims. The US is bound by law to provide the democratically governed island with the means to defend itself, despite the absence of formal diplomatic ties, and follows a "one China policy" under which it takes no official position on Taiwan's sovereignty.

The sources said China has also asked Washington to stop deliveries of weapons already ordered by Taiwan. One source said Xi could stress that Taiwan is the provocateur and the sole source of instability in US-China relations, and that it is Taiwan changing the status quo. In return, the sources added, China is offering help in pressuring Iran over the war in the Middle East.

A $14 billion arms package for Taiwan has been on hold for months. After a May summit in Beijing, Trump said he was holding it in abeyance and described it as a "very good negotiating chip." A White House official said Trump has indicated he will make a determination on the new package in a fairly short time. The administration approved an $11 billion package in December, the largest ever, and the official added that Trump approved more arms sales to Taiwan in his first term than any other president, and more in the first year of his second term than in all four years under Joe Biden.

China's foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment. The official People's Daily said on Tuesday that mishandling the Taiwan issue could push US-China ties "toward a very dangerous situation." China has sharply increased military activity around Taiwan over the past five years, including war games with live missile tests, with its forces operating near the island on an almost daily basis.

Ahead of the summit, senior Republican figures have voiced support for Taiwan. Senator Pete Ricketts, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on East Asia, said at a Hudson Institute event last week that Trump should take a firm line and make clear US policy on Taiwan is unchanged, adding that Beijing would not be allowed to take the island by force. In a letter to Trump on Friday, John Moolenaar, Republican chairman of the House Select Committee on China, wrote that Chinese objections to US arms sales and security cooperation should be "rejected out of hand."

Matt Pottinger, a deputy national security adviser in Trump's first administration, told a defence forum in Taipei on Saturday that he did not expect anything substantive on Taiwan during this week's meetings, and predicted Xi would lecture Trump at length on the issue. Taiwan's foreign ministry said it continues to closely track developments in US-China high-level exchanges while maintaining robust communication with Washington.