US President Donald Trump on Friday said he would bring up Taiwan with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) during a meeting on the sidelines of the APEC Summit in South Korea this week.
“I will be talking about Taiwan [with Xi],” Trump told reporters before he departed for his trip to Asia, adding that he had “a lot of respect for Taiwan.”
“We have a lot to talk about with President Xi, and he has a lot to talk about with us. I think we’ll have a good meeting,” Trump said.
Photo: AFP
Taiwan has long been a contentious issue between the US and China. China has never relinquished the threat of force to see through its unification with Taiwan, while Taipei has forged closer military ties with the US.
The White House said that Trump would meet with Xi on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Busan, South Korea, on Thursday next week.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) on Wednesday told lawmakers in Taipei that the US has assured Taiwan that its interests would not be harmed when Trump meets with Xi at the APEC.
“The US side has repeatedly told us that it remains steadfast in its support for Taiwan and that its exchanges with China will not harm Taiwan’s interests,” Lin said during a legislative session.
Reuters reported that Trump would likely raise the issue of releasing Jimmy Lai (黎智英), the imprisoned founder of the now-defunct pro-democracy Hong Kong-based newspaper Apple Daily.
“It’s on my list. I’m going to ask... We’ll see what happens,” Reuters cited Trump as saying.
The White House said that Trump would be on a five-day trip to Asia, visiting Malaysia and Japan before arriving in South Korea.
It is Trump’s first trip to the region since he was sworn in in January, and would be the first time he sits down with Xi during his second term in the White House.
Asked why he previously said China would not make any moves on Taiwan, Trump said it would be very risky to do so.
“I hope they won’t. We’ll have to see,” Trump said. “Maybe they will. Maybe they won’t. I hope they won’t. I think it would be very dangerous for them to do.”
DAREDEVIL: Honnold said it had always been a dream of his to climb Taipei 101, while a Netflix producer said the skyscraper was ‘a real icon of this country’ US climber Alex Honnold yesterday took on Taiwan’s tallest building, becoming the first person to scale Taipei 101 without a rope, harness or safety net. Hundreds of spectators gathered at the base of the 101-story skyscraper to watch Honnold, 40, embark on his daredevil feat, which was also broadcast live on Netflix. Dressed in a red T-shirt and yellow custom-made climbing shoes, Honnold swiftly moved up the southeast face of the glass and steel building. At one point, he stepped onto a platform midway up to wave down at fans and onlookers who were taking photos. People watching from inside
A Vietnamese migrant worker yesterday won NT$12 million (US$379,627) on a Lunar New Year scratch card in Kaohsiung as part of Taiwan Lottery Co’s (台灣彩券) “NT$12 Million Grand Fortune” (1200萬大吉利) game. The man was the first top-prize winner of the new game launched on Jan. 6 to mark the Lunar New Year. Three Vietnamese migrant workers visited a Taiwan Lottery shop on Xinyue Street in Kaohsiung’s Gangshan District (崗山), a store representative said. The player bought multiple tickets and, after winning nothing, held the final lottery ticket in one hand and rubbed the store’s statue of the Maitreya Buddha’s belly with the other,
‘NATO-PLUS’: ‘Our strategic partners in the Indo-Pacific are facing increasing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party,’ US Representative Rob Wittman said The US House of Representatives on Monday released its version of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which includes US$1.15 billion to support security cooperation with Taiwan. The omnibus act, covering US$1.2 trillion of spending, allocates US$1 billion for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative, as well as US$150 million for the replacement of defense articles and reimbursement of defense services provided to Taiwan. The fund allocations were based on the US National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2026 that was passed by the US Congress last month and authorized up to US$1 billion to the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency in support of the
‘COMMITTED TO DETERRENCE’: Washington would stand by its allies, but it can only help as much as countries help themselves, Raymond Greene said The US is committed to deterrence in the first island chain, but it should not bear the burden alone, as “freedom is not free,” American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Greene said in a speech at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research’s “Strengthening Resilience: Defense as the Engine of Development” seminar in Taipei yesterday. In the speech, titled “Investing Together and a Secure and Prosperous Future,” Greene highlighted the contributions of US President Donald Trump’s administration to Taiwan’s defense efforts, including the establishment of supply chains for drones and autonomous systems, offers of security assistance and the expansion of
RSS