Taiwan ‘confident’ about US ties ahead of Trump-Xi meeting

TAIPEI – Taiwan is “confident” about its relations with the US, Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung said on Oct 30 ahead of a

meeting between the US and Chinese presidents

where the issue of the island that Beijing claims as its own could come up.

Since taking office in 2025, US President Donald Trump has vacillated on his position towards Taiwan while pursuing a trade deal with Beijing.

Mr Trump says Chinese President Xi Jinping has told him he will not invade while the Republican President is in office, but Mr Trump has yet to approve any new US arms sales to Taipei.

The fear in Taipei, which has long enjoyed strong unofficial support from Washington, is that the Trump-Xi meeting on Oct 30 in South Korea on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit could see some sort of “selling out” of Taiwan’s interests by Mr Trump to Mr Xi.

Asked by reporters in Taipei about the meeting and whether Taiwan could come up, Mr Lin said the government is “of course” paying attention to the talks, and that Taiwan and the United States have close cooperation on security and other matters.

“So we have confidence in Taiwan-US relations and have close communication channels,” he added.

Speaking on board Air Force One after his talks with Mr Xi in South Korea’s Busan, President Trump said that the topic of Taiwan never came up.

Taiwan’s democratically elected government rejects Beijing’s claims of sovereignty.

Over the past week, China has made a renewed push in its offer of a “one country, two systems” model to get Taiwan to agree to “reunification”, but has also reiterated it will not abandon the option of using force if needed.

No major Taiwanese political party supports the “one country, two systems” idea and on Oct 29, President Lai Ching-te said Taiwan must oppose “the advancement of unification”.

Mr Lin said Taiwan must defend the status quo, which he said China is seeking to change.

“The so-called advancement of unification is to try and change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait, so we must continue to defend peace in the strait and Taiwan’s security,” he added. REUTERS