US President Donald Trump speaks during an event on maternal health care in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US, Monday, May 11, 2026.
Aaron Schwartz Bloomberg | Getty Images
President Donald Trump said on Monday that US arms sales to Taiwan and the arrest of Hong Kong journalist Jimmy Lai would be on his agenda for a summit in Beijing later this week.
Washington’s arms sales to Taiwan have been a historic one between the two countries, prompting a sharp response from Beijing which has accused the US of violating the “one China principle,” and warned that efforts to “contain China” through Taipei will fail.
When asked about Washington’s long-term support for Taiwan’s defense, Trump said Monday, “I will have that conversation with President Xi.” “President Xi would like us not to do it, and I will have that conversation. It is one of the many things I will be talking about.”
That comes after Beijing reportedly pressured the Trump administration to scale back its security commitments to the island.
Trump is expected to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing on Thursday for talks that cover a diverse agenda, with the war on Iran, trade, unusual global export controls, and Taiwan among the main issues.
The Trump administration has reportedly not moved forward with arms deliveries following an $11 billion arms package to Taiwan, approved in December, ahead of the presidential summit.
“By helping Taiwan’s independence through arms sales, the US will end up hurting itself. Any attempt to use Taiwan to deter China will fail,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said in December.
Last Friday, Taiwan’s lawmakers approved a special defense budget of $25 billion to buy missiles and other weapons from the US, far short of the $40 billion the government wants to fight China’s increasingly aggressive military.
Any softening of Trump’s rhetoric, even ambiguity, would be a “very disturbing outcome” of the summit, said Bonnie Glaser, executive director of the Indo-Pacific program at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.
“Tacit or overt negotiations in which Washington appears to be ceding Beijing’s sphere of influence over Taiwan” in exchange for concessions elsewhere could embolden China to take stronger measures to undermine Taiwan’s independence, Glaser said.
China claims the democratic island as its territory – a claim Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party rejects.
Chinese officials have described Taiwan as a “big danger point” in bilateral relations with the US, urging it to “keep its promise and make the right decisions to open a new space for China-US cooperation.”
Lai’s release
Trump said he plans to fight for Lai’s release again. In February, a Hong Kong court sentenced Lai to 20 years in prison on charges of collaborating with foreign forces.
“Jimmy Lai – he caused a lot of turmoil in China. He tried to do the right thing. He didn’t succeed, he went to jail, and people wanted him out, and I’d like to see him out,” Trump said Monday. He had previously asked for Lai’s release in a meeting with Xi on the sidelines of the APEC summit in October last year.
Meanwhile, Beijing has made it clear that Lai “must be severely punished by law” while accusing foreign governments of interfering in Hong Kong’s judicial processes.
Pro-democracy lawyer Lai, founder of the now-shuttered Apple Daily newspaper, was convicted in December of conspiring with foreign forces, endangering national security, and plotting to publish anti-Semitism. The 78-year-old suspect was imprisoned for more than five years while serving a separate sentence for fraud.
The 20-year sentence is the longest handed down under the national security law introduced in 2020, surpassing the 10-year term given to activist Benny Tai, a former law professor convicted of plotting to overthrow the government, in November 2024.
