•President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping
Chinese leader Xi Jinping pressed the ever-sensitive issue of Taiwan in a phone call yesterday with US President Donald Trump, as he stressed the need to build on a fragile trade truce between the two superpowers.
China’s foreign ministry said the call touched on other issues like Ukraine, but Taiwan featured prominently with China embroiled in a weeks-long diplomatic row with key US ally Japan over the self-governing island, reports AFP.
China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and Xi told Trump that its return was an “integral part of the post-war international order” forged in the joint US-China fight against “fascism and militarism”, according to the department.
“Given what is going on, it is even more important for us to jointly safeguard the victory of WWII,” Xi told Trump.
The bitter dispute between Tokyo and Beijing was triggered by new Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggesting this month that Tokyo could intervene militarily in any attack on Taiwan.
While the United States does not officially recognise Taiwan’s claim to statehood, Washington remains the island’s most important partner and arms supplier.
There was no immediate readout on the call from the White House, but according to China’s foreign ministry, Trump told Xi that the United States “understands how important the Taiwan question is to China.”
Trade talks momentum
Their call came after the pair met in late October for the first time since 2019, engaging in closely watched trade talks between the world’s top two economies.
The Washington-Beijing tussle, which encompasses everything from rare earths to soybeans and port fees, has rocked markets and gummed up supply chains for months.
A tentative deal reached in October’s meeting in South Korea saw Beijing agree to suspend for one year certain export restrictions on critical minerals.
China is hugely dominant in the mining and processing of rare earths, which are essential for sophisticated electronic components across a range of industries including auto, electronics and defence.
Meanwhile, the United States said it will cut back tariffs on Chinese products, and Beijing will buy at least 12 million metric tons of American soybeans by the end of this year, and 25 million metric tons in 2026.
Xi told Trump yesterday that their two countries should “keep up the momentum”, according to the foreign ministry.
He added that the “successful” meeting in South Korea “recalibrated the course of the giant ship of China-US relations and provided more momentum for it to sail forward steadily”.
Since the meeting, China–US ties have “generally maintained a steady and positive trajectory, and this is welcomed by the two countries and the broader international community”, Xi said.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said Washington hoped to finalise a deal with Beijing for securing supplies of rare earths by the Thanksgiving holiday, which falls on Thursday.
The two leaders also discussed the war in Ukraine — an issue high on Trump’s agenda as he pushes for an end to the war with a fresh deal that critics say largely satisfies Russian demands at the expense of Kyiv.
China has positioned itself as a neutral party and, in yesterday’s call, Xi reiterated his backing to end the nearly four-year conflict.
“President Xi emphasised China’s support for all efforts that are conducive to peace, and expressed the hope that the various sides would narrow their differences, reach a fair, lasting and binding peace agreement at an early date, and resolve the crisis at its root,” China’s foreign ministry said.
