At Trump-Xi meeting, Taiwan will be on back burner

Still, rising US-China tensions over the self-governing island loom in the background. Questions about the US’ relationship with Taiwan will likely take a back seat to trade, AI, and other issues as President Donald Trump welcomes Chinese leader Xi Jinping to Washington. Still, rising tensions over the self-governing island loom in the background, as the Iran war depletes the US’ weapons stockpile and Taiwan’s AI chip production raises the stakes for any potential conflict. “I don’t think that Taiwan will be as prominent an issue at the summit as it was last May,” the German Marshall Fund’s Bonnie Glaser told Semafor. She added, however, that Xi will likely “warn that US arms sales to Taiwan would undermine the leaders’ consensus on having a relationship of constructive strategic stability.” Reports suggest that Trump plans to delay an already stalled Taiwan arms package until after the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in November; that’d leave Taipei and its Washington allies nervous.