China’s Xi Presses Trump on Taiwan in Phone Call

Both leaders gave versions of what they discussed, but the Chinese president’s take made clear the issue of the island was front and center.

President Trump and President Xi Jinping of China had a lengthy phone call on Wednesday during which, Mr. Trump said, the two leaders discussed a wide range of issues — including Iran, the war in Ukraine and soybeans — ahead of Mr. Trump’s visit to China this spring.

But the call, which Mr. Trump enthusiastically described as “excellent” and “long and thorough,” included a warning from Mr. Xi about an issue that Mr. Trump has tiptoed around: the future of Taiwan.

In Mr. Trump’s description of the call, posted to his Truth Social account, he listed the issue of Taiwan among more than a half-dozen topics — “all very positive” — that the two had discussed. The call lasted almost two hours, according to people familiar with it. Mr. Trump said they discussed his trip to China for a high-stakes summit in April, as the two leaders have sought to ease tensions in recent months after engaging in an aggressive trade war shortly after Mr. Trump took office. The two last met in October in South Korea, where they agreed to a yearlong trade truce. The two did not discuss Taiwan during that meeting.

“The relationship with China, and my personal relationship with President Xi, is an extremely good one, and we both realize how important it is to keep it that way,” Mr. Trump wrote in the social media post. “I believe that there will be many positive results achieved over the next three years of my Presidency having to do with President Xi, and the People’s Republic of China!"

But a description of the call from Chinese state media was much more forceful, and suggested that the issue of Taiwan was front and center.

Mr. Xi told Mr. Trump that the American position on Taiwan was “the most important issue in China-U.S. relations,” it said, and asserted that China “will never allow Taiwan to be separated from China.”

“The U.S. must handle arms sales to Taiwan with extreme caution,” Mr. Xi told Mr. Trump, according to the description in Chinese state media.

It is not unusual for China to include the issue of Taiwan among its priorities in diplomatic talks with the United States, but the warning comes just months after the U.S. in December approved an arms package for Taiwan valued at more than $11 billion.

Ryan Hass, the director of the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution, said that Mr. Xi’s statement was notably “pointed and sharp.” He said it was clear that Mr. Xi “wants to put down a marker now, so that he can show he’s on the case when it comes to Taiwan, both domestically and to President Trump.”

“He’s trying to set the table for telling President Trump, ‘When you come in April, be ready to have a serious, sit-down conversation about Taiwan because it’s very important to me,’” Mr. Hass said.

The United States recognizes a single Chinese government in Beijing under a “One China” policy, and maintains formal diplomatic ties with the mainland, but it acknowledges only China’s belief that Taiwan is part of China and maintains informal ties with Taiwan’s government.

A White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic matters, said that the American position on Taiwan has not changed.

But Mr. Xi’s assertion also comes as Mr. Trump has threatened to invade and take over sovereign nations, which has raised concerns among experts that he would be unlikely to stop his allies and adversaries from pursuing their own such endeavors.

And Mr. Trump has made it clear that he is willing to walk a delicate line on Taiwan as not to upset Beijing; last year, the administration blocked Taiwan’s leader from stopping in New York to avoid offending China as it sought to broker a trade deal and a summit between Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi.

In an interview with The New York Times last month, Mr. Trump boasted about how Mr. Xi was “impressed” with his incursion into Venezuela to capture its leader and seize its oil.

When asked if Mr. Xi could look to the operation as a precedent to invade and control Taiwan, Mr. Trump said that China didn’t face the same threat — such as drug dealers pouring into its country, as Mr. Trump has claimed — as the U.S. did from Venezuela.

But presented with the idea that Taiwan could be seen as a threat to China, Mr. Trump then conceded that Taiwan “was a source of pride” for Mr. Xi.

“He considers it to be a part of China, and that’s up to him, what he’s going to be doing,” Mr. Trump said. “But, you know, I’ve expressed to him that I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don’t think he’ll do that. I hope he doesn’t do that.”

Edward Wong contributed reporting.

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