Xi Urges Caution on Arms Sales to Taiwan in Call with Trump

Fri Feb 06 2026 01:25:11 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

In a significant phone conversation, China's President Xi Jinping emphasized the importance of prudence in US arms sales to Taiwan, underlining the complexity of US-China relations.

During a recent phone call with US President Donald Trump, Chinese leader Xi Jinping highlighted that Taiwan remains a critical issue for US-China relations and urged the US to be careful with weapon supplies to the island. This conversation follows a period of improved relations between China and the US, as both leaders seek diplomatic solutions to ongoing tensions.

China's leader Xi Jinping has called Taiwan the most important issue in China-US relations during a phone call with US President Donald Trump.

Xi told Trump to be prudent when supplying weapons to the island, state media report, adding that he attached great importance to ties with Washington and hoped both sides would find ways to resolve their differences.

Trump described Wednesday's call as excellent and long and thorough. The call followed a flurry of visits by Western leaders, including the UK's Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, to China in recent months, hoping to reset relations with the world's second-largest economy.

Trump himself is due to visit China in April, a trip he said he very much looked forward to. He added that Beijing was considering buying 20 million tonnes of US soybeans, up from the current 12 million tonnes.

The relationship with China, and my personal relationship with President Xi, is an extremely good one, and we both realize how important it is to keep it that way, he wrote in a Truth Social post.

Apart from Taiwan and soybeans, Trump and Xi discussed Russia's war in Ukraine, the current situation in Iran, and China's purchase of oil and gas from the US, the US president wrote.

On Taiwan, Xi said the self-governed island was China's territory and that Beijing must safeguard [Taiwan's] sovereignty and territorial integrity. The United States must handle the issue of arms sales to Taiwan with prudence, he warned.

China has long vowed to reunify with Taiwan and has not ruled out the use of force to do so. The US has formal ties with Beijing rather than Taiwan, and has walked a tight diplomatic rope for decades. But it remains a powerful ally of Taiwan and is the island's biggest arms supplier.

In December, the Trump administration announced a huge arms sale worth around $11bn (£8.2bn) to Taiwan, which included advanced rocket launchers, self-propelled howitzers, and a variety of missiles. Beijing said at the time that this attempt to support [Taiwan's] independence would only accelerate the push towards a dangerous and violent situation across the Taiwan Strait.

Both leaders agreed on the importance of dialogue and mutual respect when addressing concerns, as tensions appear to have ebbed since their last meeting in South Korea in October.

Xi's engagement with Trump, alongside strengthening ties with Russia, illustrates China's ongoing efforts to position itself as a stabilizing force on the global stage.