US-China Relations

Taiwan Foreign Ministry Slams Chinese Account of Trump-Xi Meeting

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By Joseph Wu/Tiffany Wong

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Taiwan's foreign ministry has condemned the account by China's foreign ministry of a closed-door meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Beijing's readout said Xi urged Trump to "adhere to opposing" Taiwan independence, which is inconsistent with current US policy. The language Washington typically uses is that it "does not support" Taiwan independence. Taiwan's foreign ministry said China was "distorting the facts," while some analysts say that Beijing could be making the statement to coerce the US into shifting policy in line with its perspective. However, the lack of a statement from the White House leaves the matter open to question.

A closed-door meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping was supposed to be the highlight of their three-day summit in Washington, DC.

But only the Chinese side has shared their version of what happened... with a statement saying Xi urged Trump to OPPOSE Taiwan independence, language that some suggested is meant to coerce the US into going a step further than the current policy to “not support” Taiwan independence.

Taiwan’s foreign ministry says Beijing is “distorting the facts.”

HSIAO KUANG-WEI, FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON:

"Regarding the press release issued by China’s foreign ministry following the Trump-Xi meeting which stated that “the US should adhere to opposing Taiwan independence” and “handle the Taiwan issue with prudence” the foreign affairs ministry notes that this is a tactic consistently used by China to unilaterally make its claims by distorting the facts."

Taiwan was expected to be a major issue in the leaders’ talks... as a 14 billion US dollar arms sale to Taiwan has been stalled since their last meeting in Beijing in May... with Trump suggesting he might use it as a negotiating chip with China.

But without any word from the White House, it’s hard to tell if Xi’s calls will have any real impact on US policy toward Taiwan.

Meanwhile, at a state dinner with American business leaders on Thursday night, the two leaders had a message of cooperation.

DONALD TRUMP, US PRESIDENT:

"As the leaders of our two nations President Xi and I both understand that we represent different systems, but the ties between our peoples endure, and we’ve never gotten along better."

XI JINPING, CHINESE PRESIDENT:

"President Trump has pledged to “Make America Great Again” and led the American people in making significant strides. China is committed to achieving a great national rejuvenation and Chinese modernization has kept breaking new ground. These two goals are both ambitious and can be mutually reinforcing."

But while the leaders put on a show of friendship throughout the day, there were protesters on the streets of DC...

"My mother is Taiwanese, and we're out here today. Um, just, you know, protesting. Xi Jinping is here in D.C., so we're just kind of trying to, you know, show that that Taiwan is here. Taiwanese Americans are here supporting a free Taiwan."

"I’m here today because I want to support independent and democratic countries that must protect themselves. We know our democracy was hard-won and countries with a communist system cannot use democratic mechanisms to manipulate democracy."

With Xi in town for one more day... the attention will be on what the White House shares from the visit... and what it could mean for US-China relations... and for Taiwan.