President Donald Trump confirmed on Monday that US arms sales to Taiwan and the continued imprisonment of Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai will be on his agenda when he meets Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing later this week, putting two of the most sensitive flashpoints in US-China relations at the center of an already highly anticipated summit.
Taiwan arms sales: Trump says he will raise issue with Xi
Washington DC’s arms sales to Taiwan have long been one of the sharpest points of contention between the United States and China, and Trump made clear on Monday that he would not sidestep the issue in Beijing.
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Asked about Washington’s long-term support for Taiwan’s defense, Trump said: “I’m going to have that discussion with President Xi. President Xi would like us not to do that, and I’m going to have that discussion. That’s one of the many things I’m going to talk about.”
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President Trump has confirmed that he will increase US arms sales to Taiwan and the imprisonment of Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai with President Xi Jinping. These are considered two of the most sensitive flashpoints in US-China relations.
China claims Taiwan as its own territory and views the US arms sales as aiding Taiwan’s independence and an attempt to control China. Beijing has warned that such sales will hurt the US and are doomed to failure.
Jimmy Lai, the founder of the pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison in Hong Kong on charges of colluding with foreign powers. Trump has said he wants Lai released and will press Beijing on the matter.
Recent data show that China bought significantly fewer US products last year and its share of goods imported into the US fell sharply. The US now imports more goods from Taiwan than China, partly because of the AI race.
Eileen Wang, the former mayor of Arcadia, California, has pleaded guilty to acting as an illegal agent of the Chinese government. It allegedly published pro-China propaganda, including content denying the abuses of Xinjiang, at the direction of Chinese officials through the US News Center website.
The remarks come after Beijing reportedly urged the Trump administration to scale back its security commitments to the island. The administration has not moved forward with arms shipments after a record $11 billion arms package for Taiwan approved in December ahead of a presidential summit.
Last Friday, Taiwanese lawmakers approved a $25 billion special defense budget to buy missiles and other weapons from the U.S., well short of the $40 billion the government sought to counter China’s increasingly assertive military posture.
Beijing’s attitude towards Taiwan and what is at stake
China claims the democratically administered island as its own territory, a position Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party firmly rejects. Chinese officials identified Taiwan as the “biggest risk point” in bilateral relations with the US and urged Washington to “keep its promise and make the right decisions to open up a new space for China-US cooperation.”
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Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kuo Jiakun warned earlier in December: “By aiding Taiwan’s independence through arms sales, the US will only harm itself. Any attempt to use Taiwan to contain China is doomed to failure.”
Security analysts have expressed concern about what even an ambiguous shift in tone from Trump could signal. Bonnie Glaser, executive director of the Indo-Pacific program at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, said any softening of the rhetoric would be the “most destabilizing outcome” of the summit.
“A tacit or explicit deal in which Washington appears to cede a sphere of influence over Taiwan to Beijing” in exchange for concessions elsewhere could encourage China to take more assertive steps to erode Taiwan’s autonomy, Glaser said.
Jimmy Lai: Trump seeks release of imprisoned Hong Kong press freedom icon
In addition to Taiwan, Trump told reporters he intended to press Beijing once again to release Jimmy Lai, the 78-year-old founder of the now-defunct Hong Kong pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily.
“Jimmy Lai, he caused a lot of trouble for China. He was trying to do the right thing. He was not successful, he went to jail and people would like him out and I would like to see him as well,” Trump said Monday.
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In February, a Hong Kong court sentenced Lai to 20 years in prison on charges of conspiring with foreign forces, the longest sentence handed down under a national security law introduced in 2020. The sentence exceeded the 10-year sentence given to activist Benny Tai, a former law professor convicted of plotting to subvert state power in November 2024 and also serving more than five years in prison. Lai has also been in prison for more than five years. fraud charges. He was convicted in December of collusion with foreign powers, endangering national security and conspiracy to publish seditious material.
Trump previously called for Lai’s release during a meeting with Xi on the sidelines of the APEC summit in October last year.
Beijing is pushing back on Lai and foreign interference
Beijing has left little room for negotiation in Lai’s case, arguing that he “should be punished strictly according to the law” while accusing foreign governments of interfering with Hong Kong’s judicial process.
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This position reflects a broader pattern in which China has consistently framed international criticism of Hong Kong’s post-2020 legal environment as illegitimate external interference, complicating any diplomatic efforts to secure Lai’s freedom through bilateral channels.
What the summit in Beijing is expected to be about
Trump is expected to meet with Xi in Beijing on Thursday to discuss a wide-ranging agenda. Trade, artificial intelligence, export controls, the Iran war and Taiwan are high on the table as the two governments seek to bring stability to a relationship marked by growing structural tensions.
