For the 23 million inhabitants of Taiwan, the most important diplomatic meeting of 2026 could be one to which they are not invited, writes Reuters in an analysis published on Wednesday.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has made it clear that Taiwan will be at the top of his agenda when he welcomes his American counterpart Donald Trump next month in Beijing.
Reuters emphasizes that the agenda of the Chinese leader starkly contrasts with his meeting last year with Trump, in South Korea, where he deliberately avoided this thorny issue for the relations between Washington and Beijing.
The government in Taipei will monitor any sign that Trump, who has unsettled partners with his transactional approach to alliances, might sweeten or reformulate the long-standing U.S. policy on Taiwan, in exchange for China’s purchase of American aircraft or agricultural products and the easing of economic pressures.
“Regarding Taiwan, the logic is simple: if the US does not want to wage a major war with China over Taiwan, it should not support Taiwan’s independence,” Wu Xinbo, director of the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University, who is part of the advisory council on policy of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told Reuters.
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