Taiwan fears it'll be 'on the menu' at Xi's summit with Trump

Jenny Leonard, Yian Lee and Miaojung Lin, Bloomberg News on Apr 24, 2026

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A senior Taiwanese official expressed concern that President Donald Trump might make concessions on the self-governed island in his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and said that Taiwan was working hard to prevent such a scenario.

“What we are the most afraid is to put Taiwan on the menu of the talk between Xi Jinping and President Trump,” Taiwan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Francois Wu said Friday in an English-language interview with Bloomberg News. “We worry, and we need to avoid that it happens.”

Trump is set to travel to Beijing May 14-15 for a summit with Xi that’s widely expected to include a variety of business deals and purchasing commitments. It was delayed from late March because of the Iran war and the need for Trump to stay in Washington.

Taiwan — a democratic island claimed as Chinese territory by Beijing — is high on Xi’s list of priorities. At the meeting, Xi is likely to press Trump to agree to change the island’s status by opposing Taiwan independence. A verbal confirmation of that or formal change in U.S. policy would be a major win for Beijing.

Asked if the U.S. has given Taipei any assurances that the language won’t be changed, Wu said: “Nothing is 100% sure.”

A White House official said Trump expects a very positive visit with Xi and that the administration’s stance on relations with Taiwan, known as the One China policy, is unchanged.

Under the policy, the U.S. acknowledges Beijing as China’s sole government without clarifying its position on Taiwan’s legal status. The U.S. has maintained unofficial relations with Taipei under that arrangement.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing didn’t respond to a request for comment outside of normal working hours.

Wu said that Taiwan was looking to increase common interests with the U.S. and cited its semiconductor industry and Taiwan’s significant investments in the country as the primary reason for his optimism.

The “more we share a common national interest, more I think we feel comfortable that we will not be put on the menu,” he said. “For now, we feel comfortable.”

Where Trump routinely talks warmly of Xi, he has a number of advisers who are hawkish on China and who have intervened in the past, including when there was internal debate about whether to allow China to buy Nvidia Corp.’s advanced Blackwell chip, people familiar with the matter said.

Residual worry

The engagements between Taipei and Washington have been positive, the people said, but they added that it’s impossible to get reassurance from the White House about what exactly will be discussed or agreed to in the Beijing summit.

They also said that Trump’s aides don’t know — and don’t pretend to know — how the meeting will play out. That’s in part what causes the residual worry.

U.S. officials have deflected on the question and say the meeting will focus on trade and investment matters. They want to focus the Beijing trip on ensuring better access to critical minerals and rare earths that China last year cut off through sweeping export controls.

While the flow of the metals and minerals has picked up since the two leaders reached an agreement last fall in South Korea, the trade is still not back to the level it was before the controls took effect.

Another key outcome for Beijing would be restraining U.S. arms sales to Taiwan. Trump this year delayed a weapons package to Taipei after pressure from Xi and said he was “talking to him about it” and that he would be making a determination “pretty soon.”

The comment alarmed some officials in Washington and Taipei, as well as U.S. lawmakers. Still, people familiar with the deliberations believe the pause is temporary and that the package will move ahead after the May summit.

China’s ruling Communist Party considers Taiwan its territory and has vowed to claim it someday, despite never having controlled the democratic island. Officials in Taiwan reject that stance, saying that the island is de-facto independent and has never been governed by Beijing.

Trump told the New York Times earlier this year that it was “up to Xi” what the Chinese leader would do with Taiwan but that it was unlikely he would move on it while Trump is president and that the U.S. leader would be “very unhappy” if he did.

The U.S. this week seized an Iranian tanker that Trump said contained a “gift from China” — possibly rocket fuel and other inputs. It came after Trump said he’d received written commitments from Xi that China wouldn’t send arms to Iran.

“I was a little surprised but – because I have a very good relationship and I thought I had an understanding with President Xi,” Trump said on CNBC’s Squawk Box this week. “But that’s all right. That’s the way war goes, right?”

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With assistance from Colum Murphy and Eric Martin.

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