WASHINGTON, May 15. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump intends to quickly decide, following consultations with Taiwanese administration head Lai Ching-te, whether Washington will continue supplying arms to the island.
"I'm going to make a determination," the US leader said, commenting on the possibility of further arms and military equipment deliveries to Taiwan during a conversation with reporters aboard his plane en route from Beijing to Anchorage and on to Washington. "I have to speak to the person that right now is - you know who he is - running Taiwan," Trump pointed out.
The US president effectively disagreed with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, who warned that the US policy toward Taiwan risks provoking a confrontation between Washington and Beijing. "I think we will be fine," the US leader stressed. "He (Xi Jinping - TASS) does not want to see a fight for independence because that would be a very strong confrontation," Trump noted. "I heard him out. I didn't make a comment on it. I have a lot of respect for him," the US leader added.
Xi Jinping warned Trump that the wrong approach to resolving the Taiwan issue could provoke a direct confrontation between Beijing and Washington. He called the Taiwan issue the most important one in China-US relations. The pursuit of "island independence" and peace in the region are mutually exclusive, the Chinese leader emphasized.
Taiwan has been governed by its own administration since 1949, when the remnants of the Kuomintang forces led by Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975) fled there after their defeat in the Chinese Civil War. Since then, Taiwan has retained the flag and some other attributes of the former Republic of China that existed on the mainland before the Communists took power. Official Beijing considers Taiwan a province of the People’s Republic of China. The United States broke off diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1979 and established relations with China. While recognizing the one-China policy, Washington continues to maintain contacts with the Taipei government. The US is Taiwan's main arms supplier. The Chinese Foreign Ministry estimates that the total amount of US military supplies to the island has exceeded $70 billion over the years. The current Washington administration has promised to speed up the delivery of arms and military equipment to Taiwan.