Chinese leader Xi Jinping emphasised Taiwan’s importance in call with Donald Trump, while both leaders sought to build on recent trade truce progress
BEIJING: Chinese leader Xi Jinping pressed the sensitive Taiwan issue during a phone call with US President Donald Trump on Monday.
Xi stressed the need to build on a fragile trade truce between the world’s two largest economies during their discussion.
China’s foreign ministry said the call also touched on other issues including Ukraine, but Taiwan featured prominently amid Beijing’s ongoing diplomatic row with Japan over the self-governing island.
Xi told Trump that Taiwan’s return was “an integral part of the post-war international order” forged in the joint US-China fight against “fascism and militarism.”
“Given what is going on, it is even more important for us to jointly safeguard the victory of WWII,” Xi told the US president.
The dispute with Japan was triggered by new Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggesting this month that Tokyo could intervene militarily in any attack on Taiwan.
While the United States does not officially recognise Taiwan’s claim to statehood, Washington remains the island’s most important partner and arms supplier.
Trump praised “extremely strong” US-China relations in a social media post after the call but made no mention of Taiwan.
According to China’s foreign ministry, Trump told Xi that the United States “understands how important the Taiwan question is to China.”
The call followed the leaders’ October meeting in South Korea, their first since 2019, which produced a tentative trade deal.
That agreement saw Beijing suspend for one year certain export restrictions on critical minerals, while the United States will cut back tariffs on Chinese products.
China will buy at least 12 million metric tons of American soybeans by year’s end and 25 million metric tons in 2026.
Xi told Trump their countries should “keep up the momentum” from what he called their “successful” meeting in South Korea.
The Chinese leader said the meeting “recalibrated the course of the giant ship of China-US relations and provided more momentum for it to sail forward steadily.”
Trump struck a similarly optimistic tone, calling their previous meeting “highly successful” and noting “significant progress on both sides in keeping our agreements current and accurate.”
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said Washington hopes to finalise a rare earths supply deal with Beijing by Thursday’s Thanksgiving holiday.
The two leaders confirmed Trump will visit China in April, while Xi will travel to Washington later in 2026.
They also discussed the war in Ukraine, with Xi reiterating China’s support for peace efforts.
“President Xi emphasized China’s support for all efforts that are conducive to peace, and expressed the hope that the various sides would narrow their differences, reach a fair, lasting and binding peace agreement at an early date,” China’s foreign ministry said. – AFP
