China asserts that Taiwan belongs to its territory, and Xi informed Trump that Taiwan’s return is a key element of the post-war international order.
Amid rising tensions over the self-ruled island, Chinese leader Xi Jinping has told Donald Trump that Beijing’s claims to Taiwan remain intact.
According to China’s Foreign Ministry, Xi told Trump on Monday that Taiwan’s return to China is “an integral part of the post-war international order” forged in the US-China joint fight against “fascism and militarism.”
China considers Taiwan part of its territory and has vowed to take it by force if necessary. Taiwan’s democratically elected government strongly rejects China’s stance.
The ministry said the call also discussed other issues, including Ukraine, and Xi stressed the need to build a fragile trade truce between China and the US.
But Taiwan was specifically mentioned. The island has been embroiled in a weeks-long diplomatic spat between China and Japan, a key US ally, which has led to a decline in Chinese tourism, a ban on Japanese seafood, and the cancellation of joint cultural events.
Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said this month that Tokyo could intervene militarily in any attack on Taiwan, further escalating tensions between Tokyo and Beijing. On Tuesday, Takaichi said he had also spoken to Trump by phone and discussed his conversation with Xi as well as US-Japan relations.
He told reporters that he and Trump had “extensive discussions on strengthening the Japan-US Alliance and the challenges and issues facing the Indo-Pacific region” but did not provide further details. He said Trump had proposed the call.
The US does not officially recognize Taiwan’s claim to statehood, but Washington remains the island’s most important partner and arms supplier.
Trump did not mention Taiwan in his post on Truth Social about his conversation with Xi. Instead, he praised the “extremely strong” US-China relations.
According to China’s Foreign Ministry, Trump told Xi during the discussion that the US “understands how important the Taiwan question is to China.”
In response, Taiwan’s Prime Minister Cho Jung-tai said on Tuesday that “returning” to China is not an option for the island’s 23 million people.
“We must once again emphasize that the Republic of China, Taiwan, is a fully sovereign and independent country,” Cho told reporters outside parliament, referring to the island’s formal name.
“For our country’s 23 million people, ‘returning’ is not an option—that’s very clear,” he said.
The US president’s statement also confirmed that he will visit China in April and that Xi will visit Washington in late 2026. Beijing did not comment on state visits.
Their call came after the two countries met in late October for the first time since 2019, closely monitoring trade talks between the world’s top two economies.
The Washington-Beijing trade war, which covers everything from rare earths to soybeans and port fees, has rattled markets for months and slowed supply chains. A tentative deal was reached at a meeting in South Korea in October, in which Beijing agreed to suspend some export restrictions on essential minerals for a year.
China has a significant share in the mining and processing of rare earths, which are essential for advanced electronic components in a range of industries, including autos, electronics, and defense.
Meanwhile, the US said it would reduce tariffs on Chinese products, and Beijing will buy at least 12 million metric tons of US soybeans by the end of this year and 25 million metric tons in 2026.
According to the Foreign Ministry, Xi told Trump on Monday that their two countries should “maintain this momentum.” He added that the “successful” meeting in South Korea “reset the course of the giant ship of China-US relations and gave it more momentum to move forward steadily.”
Since the meeting, China-US relations have “maintained a generally stable and positive track and are welcomed by both countries and the wider international community,” Xi said. Trump also struck a similarly optimistic tone in his statement.
“This call followed our very successful meeting in South Korea three weeks ago. Since then, both sides have made significant progress in keeping our agreements current and accurate. We can now keep our eyes on the bigger picture,” he said.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Besant said Washington hopes to complete a deal with Beijing for rare earth supplies by the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday.
The two leaders also discussed the war in Ukraine—an issue high on Trump’s agenda as he pushes to end the war.
China has positioned itself as a neutral party, and in Monday’s call, Xi reiterated his support for ending the nearly four-year conflict.
