Xi expected to press Trump to halt arms sales to Taiwan

Taipei is growing increasingly concerned over a frozen $14 billion arms sales deal that Trump has described as “a very good negotiating chip.” Chinese leader Xi Jinping is expected to press President Donald Trump to halt US arms sales to Taiwan in talks this week, ” Taiwan has encouraged firms to invest in the US with the view that “building structural interdependence [assures] our national security,” a Taiwanese expert said. But Trump’s past criticism of the island “ betrays a clear preference ” to minimize Taiwan in favor of other US-China priorities, a former Obama adviser argued. In Trump’s “unpredictability on US commitments,” Beijing sees a “ rare window of opportunity ” to exert more influence on the island, a Taiwanese government minister told The Wall Street Journal.