US might postpone major Taiwan arms sales: report
By Fion Khan / Staff writer
The US is considering postponing the announcement of major arms sales to Taiwan until after November’s APEC summit in Shenzhen, the South China Morning Post reported on Saturday.
The potential delay comes as Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) prepares to travel to Washington on Thursday for a state visit, it said.
Xi and US President Donald Trump are expected to discuss topics such as trade, rare earths, artificial intelligence (AI) safety and Taiwan, it said.
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Chinese officials have requested the US not announce new arms sales for Taiwan ahead of Xi’s visit, the report quoted a source as saying.
There was a “strong possibility” Trump could extend the delay through to the end of the year, the report said, citing multiple sources.
The possible postponement is related to a planned Trump-Xi meeting at the APEC summit and Xi’s expected visit to Florida for the G20 summit in December, it said.
Sources described the timing of an announcement as a compromise between Trump, supporters of a tougher China policy and Taiwan lobbyists, the report said.
Trump had at one point considered deferring the arms sales decision until late 2028 or January 2029, but faced strong resistance from hardline China skeptics, it said.
There is also a possibility that the US government may opt to approve a smaller-scale arms sale to Taiwan in the period between the US-China meeting and the APEC summit, sources said.
However, the likelihood of a large, multibillion-dollar arms deal being approved is not high, they added.
Some China hawks have advocated a phased approach, approving smaller arms sales first to reassure Taipei, the report said.
Washington could notify Beijing in advance to avoid catching Chinese officials offguard or violating any mutual understanding between the two sides, a source said.
While Beijing would still likely protest publicly, it might reluctantly accept such sales without taking major retaliatory measures, they added.
China understands that the US cannot indefinitely postpone new arms sales decisions related to Taiwan, the report said.
Beijing made a similar request prior to Trump’s visit to China in May, and Washington at that time had reportedly withheld approval for an arms sale to Taiwan, it said.
After his trip, Trump called arms sales to Taiwan a useful “bargaining chip” in negotiations, it added.
US Representative John Moolenaar, chairman of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the US and the Chinese Communist Party, on Friday last week urged Trump to take a firm stance at the summit with Xi.
He called on Trump to reject Chinese demands to halt arms sales to Taiwan and security cooperation with US allies in Asia, and warn Beijing against providing assistance to Iran.
He also called for tighter controls to prevent China from obtaining US AI and semiconductor technologies, and urged continued pressure for the release of detained US citizens.
Meanwhile in Taipei, former US deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger during the Resilient Taiwan for Sustainable Democracy International Forum on Saturday said he does not expect the Trump-Xi summit to yield any major breakthroughs on trade or Taiwan, nor does he anticipate any significant agreement that would come at Taiwan’s expense.
Xi is likely to make a lengthy case to Trump, but just as then-US president Joe Biden rejected Xi’s demands at their summit in San Francisco several years ago, Trump is unlikely to take the bait, he said.
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