Trump weighs Taiwan arms deal
Hesitation comes after Xi voices displeasure with US stance on coveted island
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BEIJING -- U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that he has not made a decision on whether to move forward with a major arms package for Taiwan after hearing concerns about it from Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Trump's comments on Taiwan -- a self-ruled island that China claims as its own territory -- came as he flew back to Washington after wrapping up critical talks in which both leaders said important progress was made in stabilizing U.S.-China relations even as deep differences persist between the world's two biggest powers on Iran and Taiwan.
"I'll be making decisions," Trump said. "But, you know, I think the last thing we need right now is a war that's 9,500 miles away."
Trump's Republican administration in December authorized a record-setting $11 billion weapons package for Taipei, but it has yet to move forward. Lawmakers also approved a $14 billion arms sale to Taiwan in January, but the sale cannot advance until Trump formally sends it to Congress. China opposes such sales and has suggested that Washington's relationship with the self-governing island is the key factor in U.S.-China relations.
Trump said Xi also reiterated China's strong opposition to Taiwan's independence. "I heard him out," Trump said. "I didn't make a comment."
Trump's consultation with Xi about arms sales to Taiwan may violate the so-called Six Assurances, a set of nonbinding U.S. policy principles formulated in 1982 under President Ronald Reagan that have helped guide the U.S. relationship with Taipei, according to analysts.
The second of the Six Assurances states that the U.S. "did not agree to consult with the People's Republic of China on arms sales to Taiwan."
Trump said the issue of the 1982 assurances came up in the talks with Xi.
Trump: Xi 'very positive' about deal
Trump also said he raised a potential three-way nuclear deal that would involve the U.S., Russia and China. He wants each of the three countries to sign a pact that would cap the number of nuclear warheads in their arsenals. China has previously been cool to entering such a pact.
Beijing's arsenal, according to Pentagon estimates, exceeds 600 warheads and is far from parity with the U.S. and Russia, which are each estimated to have more than 5,000 warheads. But Trump suggested Xi was receptive to the idea.
"I got a very a positive response," Trump said.
The last nuclear arms pact, known as the New START treaty, between Russia and the United States expired in February, removing any caps on the two largest atomic arsenals for the first time in more than a half-century.
As the treaty was set to expire, Trump rejected a call by Russia to extend the two-country deal for another year and called for "a new, improved and modernized" deal that includes China.