Taiwan confident in US ties but hopes for no ‘surprises’ from Trump’s China summit

TAIPEI – Taiwan is confident in the stable development of its ties with the US but hopes there are no “surprises” on Taiwan-related issues when US President Donald Trump visits China this week, Taiwanese Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung said on May 11.

Mr Trump will be in Beijing from May 13 to 15 for a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping where the issue of democratically governed Taiwan, which China views as its territory, is certain to come up.

China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control and in April, the Chinese foreign minister said Taiwan was the “biggest risk” in China-US relations.

Taiwan’s government rejects China’s sovereignty claims.

The US is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week there needs to be stability across the Taiwan Strait.

Speaking to reporters at Parliament in Taipei, Mr Lin said the government is closely monitoring the upcoming Trump-Xi meeting.

“We have also maintained continuous communication with the United States – whether through public statements from the US government or through non-public channels. We are confident in the stable development of Taiwan-US relations,” he said.

“The US government has repeatedly expressed that its Taiwan policy will not change.”

Taking questions from lawmakers later, Mr Lin said the US was clear on the issues it wanted discussed, like trade and fentanyl, but China kept raising the Taiwan issue.

“Of course we hope that the Trump-Xi summit does not produce any surprises regarding Taiwan-related issues,” he said.

Defence spending stymied

The US has pushed Taiwan, along with its major allies around the world, to spend more on their defence.

But last week, Taiwan’s opposition-controlled Parliament passed a smaller special defence budget than the government had requested, and removed clauses for spending on domestically developed systems like surface-to-air missiles and drones.

A senior US official said on May 10 that the US was disappointed by Parliament approving defence spending short of what Washington believed was needed.

Mr Lin said he hoped Parliament could take “remedial” action so that the defence budget can support Taiwan’s security policy, as maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is a common goal shared by Taiwan and like-minded nations.

“However, peace depends on strength – it requires demonstrating the defence capability for self-defence in order to deter aggression,” he said.

Speaking at a separate event in Taipei, Premier Cho Jung-tai said the government would “certainly take action” to restore the trust of the international community in Taiwan’s defence policy.

“Having it fragmented in this way is a serious blow to defence and security,” he said.

China has continued its regular military activities around Taiwan in the run-up to Mr Trump’s trip, including holding another “joint combat readiness patrol” last week.

On May 9, China’s Defence Ministry said such operations were “entirely justified and reasonable”.

“‘Taiwan independence’ is the root cause destabilising peace in the Taiwan Strait and we will absolutely not tolerate or condone it,” said ministry spokesman Jiang Bin. REUTERS