Trump downplays risk of Sino-US conflict over Taiwan after historic meeting with Xi

BEIJING - US President Donald Trump downplayed the risk of conflict between the United States and China over Taiwan after his two-day summit with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One after departing Beijing on May 15, the US leader said Mr Xi “doesn’t want to see a war” but also “doesn’t want to see a movement for independence” by Taiwan.

At a later interview with Fox News, Mr Trump warned Taiwan against formal independence, saying that “we’re not looking at somebody saying, ‘Let’s go independent because the United States is backing us’.”

Asked about the US’ planned arms sale to Taiwan earlier, he said he will make a “determination over the next fairly short period”.

Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry on May 15 said it had taken note of Mr Trump’s remarks and reiterated that US arms sales are a security commitment set out in the Taiwan Relations Act.

Taiwan was a key topic of discussion by the leaders of the world’s two most powerful nations at their summit, which wrapped up on May 15. It was high on optics but modest on deliverables.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that Taiwan was a key topic of the summit, and reiterated that the Taiwan question is the “most important issue” in Sino-US relations, the official Xinhua news agency reported on May 15.

“During the meeting, we felt that the US understands China’s position, values China’s concerns, and, like the international community, does not recognise or accept Taiwan’s path to independence,” he said.

This was the first visit by an American president to China in nine years, as the two countries seek to build stability into an increasingly competitive relationship that has been fraught with tensions.

While concrete deliverables were limited, Mr George Chen, partner for Greater China practice at the Washington-based advisory The Asia Group, believes that personal dynamics matter.

“Perhaps the most important development was not any single deal, but the simple fact that Xi and Trump finally spent extended time together again since their last meeting in Busan,” he told The Straits Times. He was referring to the two leaders’ meeting in October 2025 in the South Korean port city.

Mr Chen noted that Mr Xi took Mr Trump into the private garden inside Zhongnanhai – a space he rarely shows to foreign visitors – and even pointed out century-old trees as they walked.

“These moments matter. Personal rapport between leaders can shape the tone of an entire bilateral relationship,” he said.

While today’s US-China relationship remains strained, a few years of strategic stability would not be unwelcome by either side, added Mr Chen.

Zhongnanhai is the high-security compound in central Beijing where the Chinese top leadership lives and works.

Mr Xi hosted the US President to tea and lunch there, as the bonhomie between the two leaders extended to the second day of their summit. They had nine hours of interactions over two days.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the two heads of state walked and talked during the “small group meeting”, and they “occasionally paused to admire the ancient trees and colourful roses” in the manicured garden.

In remarks on Mr Trump’s visit, Mr Xi said it was a “historic and landmark” one, according to China’s readout of their meeting on May 15. Foreign Minister Wang said that Mr Xi will accept Mr Trump’s invitation to visit the US in autumn.

“Both sides should implement the important consensus reached, cherish the hard-won positive momentum, stay on the right track, eliminate interference, and promote the stable development of bilateral relations,” added Mr Xi.

For his part, Mr Trump said in his remarks to Mr Xi at Zhongnanhai: “It’s been an incredible visit. I think a lot of good has come of it.”

But amid the pomp and pageantry, there was little to suggest that significant headway was made on core disagreements.

These – the Iran war, American restrictions on tech exports to China, a trade war between the two sides, and the pending US arms sales package of US$14 billion (S$17.9 billion) to Taiwan – did not appear to have derailed the summit.

On tariffs, Mr Wang said that the two countries’ trade and economic teams will “promote the expansion of bilateral trade within a framework of reciprocal tariff reductions”, although he did not say specifically if a trade truce due to expire in November will be extended.

Still, Mr Trump touted “fantastic trade deals” that would benefit both countries.

He said that China had agreed to order 200 Boeing jets – China’s first purchase of US-made commercial jets in nearly a decade, if it happens – as well as buy American oil and agricultural products. He added that the deal will also benefit General Electric, to the tune of 450 aircraft engines.

On the US-Israel war on Iran that began in February, Mr Trump said he felt he and Mr Xi had similar views.

“We want that to end; we don’t want them to have a nuclear weapon; we want the Strait (of Hormuz) open,” he said in his opening remarks at the Zhongnanhai meeting, where the leaders were flanked by their top officials.

Washington had warned China not to supply arms to Tehran, a close Chinese partner, and has sanctioned Chinese firms for allegedly buying Iranian crude and providing satellite imagery of US facilities in the Middle East.

Mr Trump said on May 15 that he was weighing whether to ease sanctions on these Chinese firms. “I’m going to make a decision over the next few days,” he said on Air Force One.

Mr Wang said that China advocates the swift reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and that China will continue to play its role in pushing for a swift end to the conflict.

For all the bilateral tensions and geopolitical rivalry, in the seclusion of Zhongnanhai, Mr Xi played the part of a good host, which Mr Trump appreciated.

In recorded footage, Mr Xi told Mr Trump that he had chosen the compound to reciprocate the hospitality extended to him in 2017 at the US leader’s home at Mar-a-Lago in the state of Florida, where they met for a two-day summit.

“This is where party and central government leaders of China – including myself – work and live,” said Mr Xi, adding that he will send seeds for Chinese roses, which they had viewed, to Mr Trump as a gift.

In return, Mr Trump said Mr Xi is a man he “respected greatly”, and that they had “settled a lot of different problems that other people wouldn’t have been able to settle”.

Associate Professor Hoo Tiang Boon of Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University said that while the summit did not substantively alter the nature of the US-China relationship, which is one of strategic competition, it has set a more cordial tone for at least the short term.

The idea of a “constructive strategic stability” – which Beijing had said the two sides had agreed on after the two leaders’ first meeting on May 14 and which Washington was silent on – is a new frame of reference for China when it comes to dealing with the US, he told ST.

“They know that the Americans are not going to drastically alter their position on China just because of one visit. And they know that China is still going to be viewed as an adversary or competitor, and they are pragmatic about this,” he said.

But China is starting to realise that some degree of external pressure and competition is not necessarily bad for it, so long as it does not cross the red-line issue of Taiwan, he noted.

“What they don’t want is for these kinds of competitive dynamics to spiral out of control, thus leading to military conflict, and the one issue that the Chinese have correctly identified as potentially causing this sort of destabilisation is Taiwan,” added Prof Hoo.