Trump urges China and Taiwan to 'calm down' to ease tensions

Canada (ANTARA) - US President Donald Trump has urged China and Taiwan to “calm down” amid tensions between the two, while choosing not to provide immediate certainty about US plans to send weapons to Taipei.

“I don’t want one side to be independent, and then we have to travel far to go to war. I want Taiwan to calm down, as well as China,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News that aired on Friday.

Regarding the continuation of the planned multi-billion dollar arms shipment, Trump said the plan has not yet been approved.

“We’ll see what happens,” he added.

“We discussed the issue all night,” said Trump.

He highlighted the Taiwan issue as a major topic in his meeting with Xi Jinping, who, according to Xi, considers it the most important issue.

“I think they won’t do anything while I’m here. But when I’m gone, they might,” said Trump.

“We’ve had a lot of chip companies from Taiwan come here,” said Trump.

He added that the US expects 40 to 50 percent of the world’s chip industry to be in the US by the end of his term.

According to him, Taiwan has developed because previous US presidents did not know what they were doing, while hinting at support for imposing tariffs on chip imports from Taipei.

“It’s all about our chip companies. They’re stealing our chip industry,” said Trump.

Trump’s statement was made amid tensions between China and Taiwan.

“Maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is our biggest common interest,” said Xi.

Meanwhile, as the largest arms supplier to Taiwan, the United States recently approved arms sales worth $11 billion (approximately IDR 193 trillion) in 2025, sparking protests from Beijing.

China views Taiwan as a breakaway province, while Taipei considers itself independent since 1949.

Source: Anadolu