US Says Taiwan Policy Unchanged After Xi Visit

U.S. and Taiwanese officials said Washington’s policy toward Taiwan remains unchanged following Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s visit to the United States, as Taipei continues seeking details about President Donald Trump’s private discussions with Xi.

“There’s no change in the Taiwan policy here,” U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue said in a Sept. 25 CNBC interview.

Perdue said Washington remained committed to its one-China policy, the Taiwan Relations Act, the three U.S.–China joint communiqués, and the Six Assurances to Taiwan.

“We’re not changing the language. We’re not changing our position there,” he said.

Trump confirmed to reporters on Sept. 26 that Taiwan had come up in the talks but said the two leaders did not spend much time on it.

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“We didn’t talk about it too much,” Trump said.

“We didn’t spend a lot of time talking about Taiwan. He understands very much how I feel,” he added.

Taipei Received Repeated Assurances

Alexander Yui, Taiwan’s representative in Washington, said Sunday on CBS that U.S. officials had made clear before, during, and after Xi’s visit that Washington’s position toward Taiwan had not changed.

Yui said communication between Taipei and Washington remained “open,” “regular,” and “very, very close” at different levels.

Taiwanese Deputy Foreign Minister Chen Ming-chi separately told reporters in Taipei on Sunday that Taiwan had “received repeated confirmation” through various channels from “American friends” that U.S. policy toward Taiwan remained unchanged. He did not identify the U.S. officials involved.

Chen said Taipei’s communication channels with Washington remained smooth and that Taiwan would continue seeking more information about what Trump and Xi discussed.

Yui said Sunday that Taiwan was seeking weapons to strengthen its defenses and deter conflict.

“We hope that we can get that weapons in as soon as possible,” he said.