Donald Trump said he had not determined whether to approve a $14bn US arms sale to Taipei after a two-day summit with Xi Jinping at which the Chinese president warned him not to “mishandle” the Taiwan issue. Speaking on Air Force One on his return to Washington, Trump said of the arms sale package, which has been compiled by his team: “I’ll make a determination over the next fairly short period.”
The US president said the leaders had discussed Taiwan and arms sales “in great detail”, which appeared to break decades of precedent for Washington of not consulting with Beijing on weapons exports to Taipei.
The Trump administration has compiled a package of arms sales for Taiwan that includes Patriot missile interceptors and advanced surface-to-air missiles. Officials have also discussed approving two other weapons systems, which would add another $6bn to the package.