In the days during and since the Trump-Xi summit in Washington that some say accomplished little and others say gave Xi Jinping and the CCP everything they could possibly have hoped for in the way of diplomatic bolstering and moral sanction, President Trump avoided making dumb public remarks on the subject of the Republic of China on Taiwan.
But he did not avoid continuing to make the dumb decision to delay a major arms sale to Taipei. One that has been on hold for months (Reuters, September 28, 2026).
“The extraordinary courtesy the Americans extended to Xi Jinping met and far exceeded China’s expectations,” said Shen Weizhong, a former Chinese foreign ministry official and vice president of Beijing-based think tank Global Governance Institution….
The Chinese leader also did not shy away from pressing Trump on thornier topics such as US support for Taiwan, the democratically-ruled island claimed by Beijing.
Trump avoided the subject in his public comments, in a stark contrast with the May summit, at which he called a pending $14-billion package of arms sales to Taiwan a “negotiating chip” with Beijing.
Washington has cast the busy summit schedule with Xi as important to keeping ties on even keel between the world’s two biggest economies.
But frequent interactions of the leaders also buy Beijing time on unwanted US actions such as the arms sales to Taiwan, said Jeremy Chan, a senior analyst at political risk consultancy Eurasia Group.
Former U.S. diplomat Chan says that this “is a major strategic win for the Chinese and a major loss for Taiwan and a lot of U.S. allies and partners in the region.” At least, though, the American president did not repeat his remark about how he is using the much-delayed sale as a bargaining chip with Beijing.
Now if someone can just rein in the U.S. ambassador to China.
