US President Donald Trump has triggered fresh anxiety in Taiwan and among its supporters in Washington after refusing to firmly commit to a major arms sale for the island following his summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. “I’ll make a determination over the next fairly short period. I’m gonna make a determination,” Trump told reporters, adding that he first needed to speak to the person “that’s running Taiwan”. The comments, made aboard Air Force One on Friday as Trump returned from China, have fuelled concerns that the White House may be softening its long-standing approach towards Taiwan in order to stabilise ties with Beijing and deepen economic engagement with the country. At the centre of the concern is a pending $14 billion arms package for Taiwan that had already received congressional approval earlier this year. Instead of reaffirming support, Trump said he was still “deliberating” the sale. The remarks raised questions over whether Washington was beginning to treat Taiwan less as a security commitment and more as a negotiable issue in wider US-China relations, something Beijing has long sought. Why Taiwan Matters So Much To China Taiwan has governed itself democratically for decades, but China considers it part of its territory under its “One China” principle and has repeatedly said it reserves the right to use force to bring the island under Beijing’s control. The roots of the dispute go back to 1949, when the Nationalist Chinese government retreated to Taiwan after losing the civil war to Mao Zedong’s Communist forces. Since then, Taiwan and mainland China have functioned separately, even though Beijing insists there is only “one China”. For Beijing, Taiwan is not merely a territorial issue. Chinese leaders view it as central to national sovereignty, territorial integrity and Communist Party legitimacy. That is why Xi reportedly used the Beijing summit to issue a “sharp warning” to Trump, cautioning that mishandling Taiwan could lead to conflict. The Chinese President had warned Trump that disagreements over Taiwan could create a “very dangerous situation” that could cause the world’s two biggest powers to “clash or even come into conflict” if not handled properly. Trump later confirmed that Xi had strongly raised the issue during their talks. “He feels very strongly” about Taiwan, Trump said, adding that Xi “doesn’t want to see a movement for independence”. “I heard him out,” Trump said. “I didn’t make a comment on it. I heard him out. I have a lot of respect for him.” Why Trump’s Remarks Have Triggered Alarm For decades, US policy towards Taiwan has relied on a delicate balancing act known as strategic ambiguity. Washington officially recognises Beijing rather than Taipei diplomatically, but simultaneously provides Taiwan with weapons and support under the Taiwan Relations Act. The idea has been to deter both a Chinese invasion and a formal Taiwanese declaration of independence. American presidents traditionally avoid publicly discussing whether the US military would directly defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack. However, Trump’s latest remarks went beyond traditional ambiguity and triggered concern because they appeared to open the door to consultation with Beijing over Taiwan arms sales, something previous administrations carefully avoided. One of the “Six Assurances” made by the Ronald Reagan administration to Taiwan in 1982 specifically stated that the United States would not consult China in advance regarding weapons sales to Taiwan. But Trump dismissed suggestions that even discussing the matter with Xi could represent a break from precedent. “He brought that up,” Trump said of Xi. “He talked about that to me, obviously. So what am I going to do, say ‘I don’t want to talk to you about it because I have an agreement that was signed in 1982?’” That line particularly worried Taiwan advocates and foreign policy observers. David Sacks, a former political-military expert at the US diplomatic outpost in Taiwan, warned that direct bargaining over weapons sales would represent a major departure. “An actual kind of haggling or horse trading on arms sales, or a consultation on what we would or would not sell — that would be a break with precedent if that is something that the Chinese asked for, and something that the president is willing to grant,” he told Politico. Trump also refused to clearly state whether the US would defend Taiwan militarily if China attacked the island. “I don’t want to say that,” he said when asked directly. “There’s only one person that knows that. You know who it is? Me.” Why It’s A Big Win For China Even though Trump insisted he had made “no commitment either way”, many analysts believe the summit still handed China an important symbolic and diplomatic win. For years, Beijing has wanted Washington to reduce arms support for Taiwan, discourage pro-independence sentiment in Taipei and move away from the more confrontational US approach that framed China as a strategic rival. The optics from the summit appeared to support some of those goals. Reuters reported that Xi proposed a new framework for ties called “constructive strategic stability”, replacing the more adversarial language of “strategic competition” used during Joe Biden’s presidency. “Until now, China hasn’t proposed an alternative – now they have – if the U.S. side agrees, that is progress,” Da Wei, director of the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University in Beijing, told Reuters. Beijing may interpret Trump’s comments as a signal that persistent pressure on Taiwan is working. The concern is not simply about the arms package itself, but about deterrence. Taiwan’s security has long depended partly on convincing China that any military move would trigger severe American consequences. Ambiguity can sometimes strengthen deterrence, but visible hesitation can weaken it. Democratic Representative Dave Min said: “By raising doubts about our commitment to defending Taiwan ... Trump is massively raising the risks that China will attack Taiwan.” “Teddy Roosevelt once defined the linchpin of strong foreign policy: speak softly and carry a big stick. Trump is doing the exact opposite of that and making the world much more dangerous.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also attacked Trump’s China trip, calling it a “complete and total embarrassment”. “We know Trump’s incompetent in America. He’s equally so abroad,” Schumer said. “All he’s coming home with is being chastised by Xi about Taiwan.” Even some Republicans stressed the need to continue backing Taiwan. “We have to support Taiwan, just like we have to support Ukraine,” Republican Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick said. “These are the fortresses of democracy, and they’re on the front lines, and we have to protect and defend them.” Taiwan Pushes Back Taiwan’s government quickly responded after Trump’s comments, reiterating that the real source of instability in the region was China’s military pressure. “It is widely known that China’s military threat is the only real insecurity in the region,” a Taiwanese government statement said. “Our most important and only task is to dedicate ourselves to maintaining the status quo and our determination to defend ourselves, safeguarding the freedom and democracy of our 23 million people, and ensuring that the security and stability of the Taiwan Strait are not threatened or undermined.” The island remains a critical flashpoint not just militarily, but economically as well. Taiwan is home to some of the world’s most important semiconductor manufacturers, making it central to global supply chains for chips used in smartphones, AI systems, computers and defence technologies. Any escalation around Taiwan would have enormous consequences for the global economy. What Happens Next? Despite the controversy, the Trump administration publicly insisted that official US policy had not changed. “U.S. policy on the issue of Taiwan is unchanged as of today,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told NBC News. Still, uncertainty now surrounds the fate of the pending Taiwan arms package and the broader direction of US policy. The summit itself produced limited major breakthroughs on trade or Iran, but Taiwan emerged as one of the clearest strategic fault lines. For Beijing, Trump’s hesitation alone may already represent progress. For Taiwan, however, the episode has revived a deeply uncomfortable question: if tensions with China escalate further, how firm is America’s commitment really?