Taiwan’s foreign minister said on Tuesday that the island’s relations with the United States remain “very stable,” dismissing concerns that U.S. President Donald Trump might compromise Taiwan’s interests during his upcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea.
Speaking to reporters in Taipei, Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung said he was confident in the strength of Taipei’s partnership with Washington despite speculation that Trump could make concessions on Taiwan to advance a trade deal with Beijing.
“No, because our Taiwan–U.S. relations are very stable,” Lin said when asked if he feared Trump would “abandon” Taiwan during talks with Xi. “No matter whether on security, trade and business, or other areas, there is close cooperation,” he added.
Trump, who took office earlier this year, has fluctuated in his approach toward Taiwan, a self-governed democracy that China claims as its territory.
While the U.S. president has said Xi assured him there would be no invasion during his tenure, he has yet to approve new American arms sales to Taipei, fueling unease among some Taiwanese officials.
The two leaders are expected to meet this week on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in South Korea. The gathering is one of the few international forums in which Taiwan participates, though it is represented by senior envoys rather than the president to avoid diplomatic friction with Beijing.
Departing for the summit, Taiwan’s APEC representative Lin Hsin-i, a former economy minister, said the event offered an opportunity for “equal interactions” among members despite the island’s unique diplomatic status.
Tensions between Beijing and Taipei have intensified in recent years, with China frequently dispatching warplanes and naval vessels near Taiwan and ramping up efforts to isolate it diplomatically.
On Tuesday, police in China’s Chongqing city said they had launched an investigation into Taiwanese lawmaker Puma Shen, accusing him of “separatist activities.”
“It does not matter, in any case the people of Taiwan are not scared,” Shen wrote on his Threads account in response. Taiwan’s government dismissed the probe as meaningless, noting that China’s legal system has no jurisdiction over the island.
Taipei maintains that only the Taiwanese people can determine their future and rejects Beijing’s claim to sovereignty, insisting that the island will continue to uphold its democracy and autonomy regardless of external pressure.
Source: Reuters
Written By Rodney Mbua
