The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said Chinese state media deliberately distorted Taiwan’s sovereign status, following reports that US President Donald Trump agreed to uphold the “one China” policy in a phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平).
During the more than one-hour-long call, Xi urged Trump to retreat from trade measures that roiled the global economy and cautioned him against threatening steps on Taiwan, a Chinese government summary of the call said.
China’s official Xinhua news agency quoted Xi as saying that the US should handle the Taiwan issue cautiously and avoid the two countries being drawn into dangerous conflict or confrontation by what he called “Taiwanese separatists.”
Photo: Yang Cheng-yu, Taipei Times
However, Trump said on social media that the talks focused primarily on trade and led to “a very positive conclusion,” announcing that further lower-level talks were forthcoming.
He said that “there should no longer be any questions respecting the complexity of Rare Earth products,” but made no mention of Taiwan.
“We’re in very good shape with China and the trade deal,” he later told reporters.
Photo: AP
The two leaders also extended mutual invitations to visit each other’s countries.
In Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said China was deliberately distorting Taiwan’s status, citing Chinese media claims that the US had agreed to continue upholding the “one China” policy.
This is a recurring tactic used by Beijing when engaging with other nations, the ministry said.
Taiwan is committed to working with allies to foster regional prosperity and maintain the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, it added.
Taiwan will continue to deepen bilateral ties with the US in areas such as security and trade, while closely monitoring regional developments to protect its national interests, it said.
Presidential Office spokesperson Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said that Taiwan has always supported dialogue between the US and China, and welcomes any efforts that contribute to regional stability.
Taiwan will continue to maintain close communication with Washington and work together toward regional peace and prosperity, she added.
The highly anticipated phone call came amid escalating tensions between Washington and Beijing over “rare earths” minerals, a dispute that threatened to unravel the fragile trade truce between the world’s two largest economies.
However, it remained unclear from either side’s statements whether the issue had been resolved.
Trump said on social media that a US delegation — led by US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer — is to meet with their Chinese counterparts “shortly at a location to be determined.”
“The US side should take a realistic view of the progress made and withdraw the negative measures imposed on China,” the Chinese government said in a statement following Xi’s call with Trump, published by Xinhua.
Trump had long sought a call or meeting with Xi, but Beijing had resisted, preferring to settle the details of any agreement through lower-level negotiations first.
Thursday’s call came at Trump’s request, China said.
It is not clear when the two men last spoke, with Chinese officials maintaining that no recent calls had occurred.
While both sides said they last spoke on Jan. 17 — just days before Trump’s inauguration — Trump has repeatedly said that he and Xi have remained in contact since he took office on Jan. 20.
China had said that the two leaders had not had any recent phone calls.
The combined effect of the monsoon, the outer rim of Typhoon Fengshen and a low-pressure system is expected to bring significant rainfall this week to various parts of the nation, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The heaviest rain is expected to occur today and tomorrow, with torrential rain expected in Keelung’s north coast, Yilan and the mountainous regions of Taipei and New Taipei City, the CWA said. Rivers could rise rapidly, and residents should stay away from riverbanks and avoid going to the mountains or engaging in water activities, it said. Scattered showers are expected today in central and
People can preregister to receive their NT$10,000 (US$325) cash distributed from the central government on Nov. 5 after President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday signed the Special Budget for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience, the Executive Yuan told a news conference last night. The special budget, passed by the Legislative Yuan on Friday last week with a cash handout budget of NT$236 billion, was officially submitted to the Executive Yuan and the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon. People can register through the official Web site at https://10000.gov.tw to have the funds deposited into their bank accounts, withdraw the funds at automated teller
COOPERATION: Taiwan is aligning closely with US strategic objectives on various matters, including China’s rare earths restrictions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan could deal with China’s tightened export controls on rare earth metals by turning to “urban mining,” a researcher said yesterday. Rare earth metals, which are used in semiconductors and other electronic components, could be recovered from industrial or electronic waste to reduce reliance on imports, National Cheng Kung University Department of Resources Engineering professor Lee Cheng-han (李政翰) said. Despite their name, rare earth elements are not actually rare — their abundance in the Earth’s crust is relatively high, but they are dispersed, making extraction and refining energy-intensive and environmentally damaging, he said, adding that many countries have opted to
PEACE AND STABILITY: Maintaining the cross-strait ‘status quo’ has long been the government’s position, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan is committed to maintaining the cross-strait “status quo” and seeks no escalation of tensions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday, rebutting a Time magazine opinion piece that described President William Lai (賴清德) as a “reckless leader.” The article, titled “The US Must Beware of Taiwan’s Reckless Leader,” was written by Lyle Goldstein, director of the Asia Program at the Washington-based Defense Priorities think tank. Goldstein wrote that Taiwan is “the world’s most dangerous flashpoint” amid ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He said that the situation in the Taiwan Strait has become less stable
RSS