WASHINGTON, United States – US Secretary of State Marco Rubio asserted on Saturday that the Trump administration will not abandon its support for Taiwan in exchange for a trade deal with China. The statement was intended to allay concerns ahead of a planned meeting between Presidents Trump and Xi Jinping.
“If what people are worried about is us getting a trade deal that gives us preferential treatment in trade in exchange for withdrawing from Taiwan, nobody’s thinking about that,” Rubio said as he traveled from Israel to join Trump in Doha en route to the ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur, Bloomberg reported.
Rubio’s remarks come amid China’s attempts to pressure Washington to make formal concessions on Taiwan’s independence. At the same time, the US administration seeks to maintain its military support for the island while conducting “constructive” trade talks with Beijing.
President Trump is scheduled to meet with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, next Thursday on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in South Korea. This will be their first in-person meeting since Trump returned to the White House last January.
In the context of trade talks, intensive meetings between officials from both sides continued on Sunday. These meetings aim to ease tensions between the world’s two largest economies. US Trade Representative Jameson Greer described the talks as “moving toward a point where Presidents Trump and Xi can have a productive meeting.” The US Treasury Department also deemed them “very constructive.”
Bloomberg reports that officials are currently focusing on “finalizing a proposal that could be presented to the leaders.” This comes after they likely narrowed their differences on key issues. US Treasury Secretary Scott Besant and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng are also participating in Sunday’s meetings.
