Xi Jinping Warns of Conflict with US Over Taiwan in Meeting with Donald Trump

In a striking statement, Xi Jinping, China's president, warned of potential clashes and even conflicts with the US over Taiwan, as he met Donald Trump for a highly anticipated summit in Beijing. This warning, which was published by China's foreign ministry, highlights the tension between the two nations over the self-governing island. It's clear that Taiwan is a major point of contention between the two countries.

Xi's remarks, made during his two-hour meeting with Trump on Thursday morning, emphasized that Taiwan is the most important issue in China-US relations. China is keen to reduce US support for Taiwan, which it claims as part of its territory. Xi hasn't ruled out the use of force to achieve this aim, and it's a core priority for his legacy.

The Chinese government also stated that the two leaders discussed the war in the Middle East, the Ukraine conflict, and issues on the Korean peninsula. They won't focus on human rights and US-China cooperation on tackling the climate crisis, as they have with previous US administrations. Maya Wang, the deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, noted that President Trump has been hostile to the concept of human rights, making it unlikely that they'd be a significant part of the discussions. She said it would be hard to imagine human rights figuring meaningfully in their discussions.

The meeting between Xi and Trump is a momentous summit that will pack negotiations on global conflict into just over 24 hours. It'll also cover international trade and the future of artificial intelligence. Trump arrived at the Great Hall of the People, an imposing Mao-era building, for an opening ceremony. The ceremony was followed by face-to-face talks with Xi. The ceremony concluded with a tightly choreographed performance from the Chinese military's marching band.

Then, Trump and Xi walked up the stairs into China's national legislature for their first round of bilateral talks.

In his opening remarks, Xi noted that 2026 marks 250 years of US independence. He said that stability in the US-China relationship was necessary for the world. Trump said he and Xi had known each other for a long time, and that Xi was a great leader. Xi's bullish rhetoric on Taiwan echoes language used by China's foreign minister, Wang Yi, in a recent phone call with the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio. This rhetoric hasn't gone unnoticed, and it's likely to have an impact on the talks.

Trump's decision to launch strikes against Iran in February has cast a shadow over talks that were supposed to be focused on reaching a trade deal between the world's two biggest economies. Rubio said that the US would be pushing Beijing for help on the Iran crisis, hoping to convince them to play a more active role in getting Iran to walk away from its current actions in the Persian Gulf. The US can't do it alone, and they need China's help.

Beijing hopes to use the meeting to recalibrate US-China ties and set a foundation for a stable and predictable trade relationship. Xie Feng, China's ambassador to the US, said in a column published in the CCP's official newspaper that the strategic significance of Sino-US relations is even more prominent against the backdrop of escalating international instability. Xie noted that non-interaction between the two superpowers isn't an option, and they can't afford to ignore each other.

The Trump administration has talked of establishing a board of trade with China to address commercial differences between the countries. Beijing wants to push Trump to soften US support for Taiwan, through a shift in rhetoric or reducing arms sales to the self-governing island. Although many in Beijing concede that this is unlikely, they're still going to try. Trump has also promised to raise the case of the imprisoned Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai. It's a tricky issue, and it's not clear how it'll be resolved.

Despite the trip lasting barely two days, Xi and Trump will have plenty of time for interaction on this visit, the first of up to four presidential meetings that are expected this year. In the afternoon, the two leaders will tour Beijing's Temple of Heaven, a Ming dynasty religious complex that has also been visited by Henry Kissinger and Gerald Ford. It's a historic site, and it's significant that they're visiting it together.

The air quality index in the capital is over 150 today, well over the World Health Organization's guidelines for healthy air. The city is shrouded in a greyish smog full of pollutants that are harmful to human health. In recent years, China's fight against air pollution has slowed, partly because huge improvements have already been made. Last year, average levels of PM2.5 in Beijing dropped to below 30 for the first time since records began more than a decade ago. It's a positive trend, but there's still a lot of work to be done.

President Trump has been pretty hostile to the concept [of human rights] … it would be hard to imagine in a Trump-Xi meeting that human rights would figure meaningfully if at all in their discussions, said Maya Wang, the deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch.