China blocks Pentagon official’s visit to Beijing on $14 billion worth of US arms for Taiwan: Report | Today’s news

China is withholding approval for a planned visit by Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon’s top policy official, until the Trump administration makes a final decision on a $14 billion arms package for Taiwan, people familiar with the discussions told the Financial Times, raising new tensions at an already fragile moment in US-China relations.

Colby’s visit to Beijing: What we know

Elbridge Colby, the US assistant secretary of defense for policy, held talks with Chinese officials about a summer visit to Beijing.

But China has indicated it cannot approve the trip until Washington resolves the issue of the outstanding arms package, which includes Patriot anti-missile missiles and advanced Nasams surface-to-air missile systems, the FT report said.

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This is not the first time that an arms package has disrupted diplomatic dynamics. The Financial Times reported in February that the administration had put together a $14 billion package after a record $11.1 billion arms sale announced in December. Beijing reacted sharply, canceling an earlier round of talks with Colby about a potential visit to China.

According to the FT report, the Pentagon declined to comment on what officials called “potential travel,” but a defense official said the department “is committed to building on President Trump and Secretary Hegseth’s historic visit to Beijing.”

“Secretary Hegseth, Under Secretary Colby and other key department officials already engage regularly with their PRC counterparts and look forward to continuing to do so in a spirit of respect, realism and clarity,” the official said.

Trump’s ‘Bargaining Chip’: Explaining the $14 Billion Taiwan Arms Package

A $14 billion US arms package for Taiwan is at the center of a delicate diplomatic calculus for the Trump administration. In an interview with Fox News following his summit with President Xi Jinping last week, Trump said he was keeping the weapons “calm,” calling the package a “very good bargaining chip.”

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He subsequently refused to confirm whether he would approve the sale, a stance that caused considerable concern in Taipei. The administration originally planned to notify Congress of the arms sale in February, but delayed that decision after criticism from Beijing.

Asked about the matter on Wednesday, Trump suggested he would also speak with Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te. Such a call would be highly unusual. Trump spoke with then-president Tsai Ing-wen in 2016 as president-elect, but no sitting US president has spoken directly with a Taiwanese leader since Washington transferred its diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979.

Analysts warn that China is using diplomatic visits as leverage

Security analysts say Beijing is deliberately using the prospect of high-level military dialogue as a pressure tool to delay or reduce the arms package ahead of Xi Jinping’s expected state visit to Washington in September.

“I suspect Beijing will use any future trip by Bridge Colby or Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as leverage to get the Trump administration to delay, split or downgrade a potential arms sales package to Taiwan,” Zack Cooper, an Asia security expert at the American Enterprise Institute, told the Financial Times.

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Dennis Wilder, a former senior CIA expert on China, offered a similar assessment to the Financial Times: “The Chinese are well aware that President Trump will not end arms sales to Taiwan, but their ultimate goal is to delay the announcement of the next major arms package until after Xi Jinping’s state visit to Washington in late September. This is less a test of Trump’s commitment to help defend Taiwan than an effort to save Xi Jinping.” any intimidation.”

Pete Hegseth’s historic visit to Beijing sets the scene

The diplomatic background to Colby’s discussions is significant. Pete Hegseth became the first US defense secretary to visit China since 2018 when he traveled with Trump to Beijing last week, the first time a Pentagon chief has accompanied a sitting president to China.

One person familiar with the situation told the FT that Colby’s planned visit to China will be used in part to lay the groundwork for Pete Hegseth’s return trip to Beijing, suggesting the Pentagon is seeking a permanent channel of military-to-military engagement with the People’s Liberation Army.

What a visit to Colby could accomplish

Beyond the immediate issue of the arms package, analysts say Colby’s visit would serve broader strategic purposes at a time of rising military tensions in the Indo-Pacific.

“Colby’s visit to China would provide an opportunity to express U.S. concerns about Chinese pressures and pressures on U.S. partners and allies, its nuclear modernization, and cyber and space activities,” said Bonnie Glaser, a China expert at the German Marshall Fund.

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Glaser added that Colby could also develop the U.S. National Defense Strategy, which he helped draft, and opened discussions on military applications of artificial intelligence and crisis communications protocols between the two militaries.

Taiwan Strait Tensions and PLA Military Exercises

The diplomatic tussle over Colby’s visit comes against a backdrop of increasing military activity in and around the Taiwan Strait. Admiral Samuel Paparo, head of the US Indo-Pacific Command, described the People’s Liberation Army’s recent exercises around Taiwan as a “rehearsal” for possible future military action against the island, over which mainland China claims sovereignty.

The Pentagon has been pushing to strengthen direct communication channels between US and Chinese military commanders, citing the increasing frequency and scope of PLA exercises as a key driver of the effort. Whether Colby’s visit ultimately takes place may depend less on diplomatic goodwill than on how the White House decides to approach the weapons package that has become, by Trump’s own admission, a geopolitical bargaining chip.