US: "No Change in Taiwan Policy"... Gaps Remain After Trump-Xi Summit

David Perdue, the U.S. Ambassador to China, reiterated that the United States maintains its long-standing position on the Taiwan issue. His remarks came shortly after the summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, which was held from September 24 to 26. During the summit, President Xi demanded that the United States oppose Taiwan's independence, but analysts say that the United States officially responded by refusing this demand.

AP Yonhap News

This statement reinforces the assessment that the United States did not achieve a clear breakthrough during the summit. Both countries agreed to maintain a stable relationship and continue follow-up talks, including extending the trade war truce. However, on major contentious issues, they merely reaffirmed their existing differences.

In an interview with Fox News on the 27th (local time), Ambassador Perdue stated, "President Trump is tougher on the Taiwan issue than anyone I have ever seen," and emphasized, "We do not support independence, nor do we support coercion." He reaffirmed the U.S. policy of continually supporting Taiwan's self-defense capabilities. This appears to be an attempt to allay concerns that President Trump might partially accept President Xi's demands.

During the summit, President Xi urged President Trump to take a clear stance against Taiwan’s independence. This was interpreted as increased pressure for the U.S. to move beyond its existing position of not supporting Taiwan's independence.

Some analysts viewed this as another example highlighting the limitations of the summit. After the summit, the White House stated that both sides were continuing discussions to address U.S. concerns about shortages in critical mineral supply chains, including rare earth elements. In contrast, China did not specifically mention the rare earth issue. Although the Taiwan issue was discussed between the two leaders, it was not included in the official outcome announcements.

Foreign media outlets assessed that the U.S.-China summit fell short of resolving major conflicts. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) described the three-day summit as one where elaborate protocol overshadowed substantive achievements, ending with statements from the White House and China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Financial Times (FT) also noted that the summit did not resolve disputes between the two countries. While both parties agreed on stabilizing the relationship and continuing follow-up dialogue, there was no notable progress on core issues such as Taiwan, advanced technology, and security. The U.S. political news outlet Politico similarly assessed that progress in the trade sector was limited.

Meanwhile, following the summit, the White House announced in a factsheet on September 25 that President Trump and President Xi had "agreed to build a constructive relationship based on respect, fairness, and reciprocity to promote strategic stability." On September 26, China’s official Xinhua News Agency also reported that the two countries had agreed to establish "a constructive and strategically stable China-U.S. relationship based on respect, fairness, and equality," and unveiled eight key outcomes of the summit.

Both sides cited as joint achievements proposals to apply lower tariffs on non-sensitive goods worth $30 billion each, as well as the activation of the bilateral Trade Committee and Investment Committee. In the field of AI, the two presidents agreed to refer to related new technologies as "Super Intelligence" (SI) and continue follow-up discussions until November, according to the White House. China also confirmed that the two countries would discuss the risks and benefits of AI, hold additional talks in November, and establish a bilateral communication channel for related incidents.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.