Xi Jinping and Donald Trump. PHOTO: Dilara Irem Sancar / AFP / Profimedia
China's leader Xi Jinping called Taiwan “the most important issue” in Sino-US relations during a phone call with US President Donald Trump on Wednesday, the BBC notes.
Xi told Trump to be “careful” when supplying arms to the island and that he hoped both sides would find ways to resolve their differences.
Trump described the phone conversation as “excellent” and “long and thorough.”
Wednesday's call follows a series of visits by Western leaders to China in hopes of resetting relations with the world's second-largest economy.
Trump himself is due to visit China in April, a trip he says he is “looking forward to”.
He added that Beijing is considering buying 20 million tons of U.S. soybeans, up from 12 million tons now.
“The relationship with China and my personal relationship with President Xi is extremely good and we both realize how important it is to keep it that way,” he wrote in a post on Truth Social.
In addition to Taiwan and soybeans, Trump and Xi also discussed Russia's war in Ukraine, the current situation in Iran and China's purchase of US oil and gas during the call on Wednesday, the US president wrote.
Regarding Taiwan, Xi said the self-ruled island is “China's territory” and that Beijing “must protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity [a Taiwanului]”.
Also, “The United States must handle the issue of arms sales to Taiwan with caution,” he warned, according to the Xinhua news agency.
China has long vowed to “reunify” with Taiwan and has not ruled out the use of force to do so.
The US has official ties to Beijing, but not Taiwan. However, the US remains a strong ally of Taiwan and is the island's largest arms supplier.
In December, the Trump administration announced a huge arms sale worth about $11 billion to Taiwan, including missile launchers and self-propelled howitzers.
Beijing said at the time that this “attempt to support independence [Taiwanului]” would only “accelerate the advance towards a dangerous and violent situation across the Taiwan Strait”.
“Just as the United States has its own concerns, China also has its own concerns,” Xi told Trump on Wednesday.
“If the two sides work in the same direction, in the spirit of equality, respect and mutual benefit, surely we can find ways to address each other's concerns,” he said.
Hours before his talk with Trump, Xi held an online meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, in which both hailed the strengthening of ties between Beijing and Moscow.
