Trump-Xi summit: Taiwan's ruling party says strait security is a shared democratic interest
Taiwan's ruling DPP is playing down fears that the island will be traded away at the Trump-Xi summit, framing the meeting as neutral-to-positive but insisting Taiwan's safety rests on its own strength.
- Xi Jinping has arrived in the US for a three-day state visit, with a White House meeting on the agenda.
- Taiwan's DPP legislative caucus welcomes any effort that lowers the risk of Chinese expansion in the region, calling strait security a concern for all democracies, not just Washington.
- The White House and State Department repeated firm support for Taiwan before the summit, and the US, Japan and South Korea foreign ministers backed Taiwan at a joint meeting.
- A $14 billion arms package for Taiwan is still under review, with Secretary of State Rubio stressing America's own defense needs come into the calculation.
- The DPP argues the bigger problem is at home: arms-buying budgets have been blocked in Taiwan's legislature, delaying a drone program by more than nine months.
Outlook: Taipei will keep pushing deterrence and anti-infiltration laws while waiting to see whether the arms sale clears review after the summit.