Chinese leader Xi Jinping has told Donald Trump that Beijing’s claims to Taiwan remain unchanged, in a phone call that came amid rising tensions over the self-governing island.
Xi told Trump on Monday that Taiwan’s return to China was an “integral part of the postwar international order” forged in the joint US-China fight against “fascism and militarism”, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.
China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary. Taiwan’s democratically elected government strongly rejects China’s stance.
The ministry said the call touched on other issues, including Ukraine, with Xi also stressing the need to build on a fragile trade truce between China and the US.
But Taiwan featured prominently. China is embroiled in a weeks-long diplomatic row with key US ally Japan over the island that has seen a dip in Chinese tourism to Japan, a ban on Japanese seafood and the cancellation of joint cultural events.
The bitter dispute between Tokyo and Beijing was triggered after Sanae Takaichi, Japan’s new prime minister, suggested this month that Tokyo could intervene militarily in any attack on Taiwan.
On Tuesday, Takaichi said she also had a call with Trump and discussed his conversation with Xi, as well as US-Japan relations.
She and Trump “held a wide-ranging exchange of views on strengthening the Japan-US alliance and the challenges and issues facing the Indo-Pacific region”, she told reporters, without elaborating. She said Trump had proposed the call.
The US does not officially recognise Taiwan’s claim to statehood but Washington remains the island’s most important partner and arms supplier.
Trump did not mention Taiwan in his post on Truth Social about his call with Xi. Instead, he praised “extremely strong” US-China relations.
According to China’s foreign ministry, Trump told Xi during their discussion that the US “understands how important the Taiwan question is to China.”
In response, Taiwan premier Cho Jung-tai said on Tuesday that a “return” to China is not an option for the island’s 23 million people.
“We must once again emphasise that the Republic of China, Taiwan, is a fully sovereign and independent country,” Cho told reporters outside parliament, referring to the island’s formal name.
“For the 23 million people of our nation, ‘return’ is not an option – this is very clear,” he added.
The US president’s statement also confirmed that he will visit China in April and that Xi will come to Washington later in 2026. Beijing said nothing about the state visits.
Their call came after the pair met in late October for the first time since 2019, engaging in closely watched trade talks between the world’s top two economies.
The Washington-Beijing trade war, which encompasses everything from rare earths to soya beans and port fees, has rocked markets and slowed supply chains for months. A tentative deal reached in October’s meeting in South Korea saw Beijing agree to suspend for one year certain export restrictions on critical minerals.
China is hugely dominant in the mining and processing of rare earths, which are essential for sophisticated electronic components across a range of industries including auto, electronics and defence.
Donald Trump and Xi Jinping talk on the sidelines of the Apec summit in October. Photograph: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
Meanwhile, the US said it would cut back tariffs on Chinese products, and Beijing would buy at least 12m metric tons of American soya beans by the end of this year, and 25m metric tons in 2026.
Xi told Trump on Monday that their two countries should “keep up the momentum”, according to the foreign ministry. He added that the “successful” meeting in South Korea “recalibrated the course of the giant ship of China-US relations and provided more momentum for it to sail forward steadily”.
Since the meeting, China-US ties have “generally maintained a steady and positive trajectory, and this is welcomed by the two countries and the broader international community”, Xi said. Trump struck a similarly optimistic tone in his statement.
“This call was a follow-up to our highly successful meeting in South Korea, three weeks ago. Since then, there has been significant progress on both sides in keeping our agreements current and accurate. Now we can set our sights on the big picture,” he said.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said Washington hoped to finalise a deal with Beijing for securing supplies of rare earths by the Thanksgiving holiday, which falls on Thursday.
The two leaders also discussed the war in Ukraine – an issue high on Trump’s agenda as he pushes for an end to the war.
China has positioned itself as a neutral party and, in Monday’s call, Xi reiterated his backing to end the nearly four-year conflict.
With Agence France-Presse
