BEIJING — President Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, were all smiles and full of public praise for each other at the start of their much-anticipated summit meeting here Thursday.
A very different story began to emerge behind closed doors after Xi continually pressed the issue of Taiwan, the self-governing, democratic island that China claims as its own.
The mid-morning sitdown ran long — about 40 minutes over its scheduled time. Trump was notably quieter at the leaders’ next stop, the 15th century Temple of Heaven. He ignored shouted questions and the body language of both presidents was noticeably stiffer.
The Chinese quickly put out their version of the reasons why.
“President Xi stressed to President Trump that the Taiwan question is the most important issue in China-US relations,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning wrote on X soon after the meeting broke up. “If it is handled properly, the bilateral relationship will enjoy overall stability. Otherwise, the two countries will have clashes and even conflicts, putting the entire relationship in great jeopardy.
“‘Taiwan independence’ and cross-Strait peace are as irreconcilable as fire and water,” Mao went on. “Safeguarding peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is the biggest common denominator between China and the US.”
Underscoring Beijing’s point, Mao’s post framed the last sentence as a direct quote to Trump by Xi.
The White House did not release their own readout of the bilateral meeting for several hours — and that statement made no mention of Taiwan. Communications director Steven Cheung refused to talk about the topic when reporters for The Post and other outlets saw him at the state banquet, instead directing them to the official statement.
In an interview with NBC News set to air Thursday evening, US time, Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted Xi’s protests had no effect.
“US policy on the issue of Taiwan is unchanged as of today and as of the meeting that we had here today,” he said. “It was raised. They always raise it on their side. We always make clear our position and we move on to the other topics.”
Settled by Chiang Kai-shek’s defeated Nationalists in 1949 following the Chinese Civil War, Taiwan has been a thorn in the side of the People’s Republic of China for almost eight decades.
Since the late-1970s, the US “One China” policy acknowledges Beijing’s claim to the island and avoids directly advocating for Taiwanese sovereignty.
However, the US is one of Taiwan’s biggest arms dealers. In December, Trump announced the largest-ever weapons package for the island, worth more than $11 billion.
While Xi has repeatedly vowed to reunify China and Taiwan — by force if necessary — Rubio told NBC News Beijing would be making “a terrible mistake to force that, through force or anything of that nature.”
“There would be repercussions for that, globally, not just in the United States,” he said. “And we kind of leave it there.”
On the other side of the Taiwan Strait, Taipei’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs fired their own rhetorical volley.
“China is currently the only risk to regional peace and stability,” the ministry said. “Even during the meeting between the leaders of the United States and China, the People’s Liberation Army continued to send military aircraft and ships to harass and threaten Taiwan in the region.”
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