Taiwan Rejects Xi's White House Remarks as a 'Distortion of the Facts'
Taipei hit back this morning after Mr Xi told Mr Trump that China’s position on national reunification is clear and urged Washington to oppose Taiwanese independence. Taiwan’s foreign ministry called China the “true disruptor” of regional peace: “Taiwan’s sovereignty belongs to all the people of Taiwan… Taiwan’s future can only be determined by the Taiwanese people through democratic means.” The summit itself produced an extension of the trade truce to 10 January and little else visible.
Three hours at the White House, about ninety minutes of it behind closed doors, and no joint statement, communiqué or signed document emerged — which is itself the finding. The pageantry was considerable: a tarmac greeting at Joint Base Andrews, the first by an American president since 2015, and a state dinner seating Tim Cook, Jeff Bezos, Sundar Pichai, Sam Altman, Elon Musk and Jensen Huang, with CNN and MS Now reporters barred. Danny Russel, a former American diplomat, delivered the verdict: “Pageantry and protocol don’t add up to progress. Pandas are cute, but what America needs are rare earths.” The substantive lever remains unmoved — a roughly $14bn Taiwan arms package still paused, with at least nineteen Senate Democrats now pressing for its release. Watch whether that package moves before January.