00:01The leaders of the world's two largest powers met in Beijing in May,
00:06hanging in the balance between them, the state of the world.
00:09But this meeting held even greater significance for Taiwan,
00:12which has long been a sore spot in U.S.-China relations.
00:16China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has not ruled out taking it by force.
00:22Taipei defends its sovereignty from Beijing's aggression with the help of weapons purchased from Washington.
00:27But those arms sales are currently up in the air.
00:31After the meeting, Trump called them a good negotiating chip in talks with China.
00:35In particular, a 14 billion U.S. dollar arms package to Taiwan is still awaiting his approval.
00:48This pause in arms sales to Taiwan has brought Washington's commitments to Taipei into question.
00:54Since the meeting in May, the White House has indicated that Trump will decide on the sales package soon.
01:00But weeks have gone by without any indications that Trump is closer to a decision now
01:05than he was after his meeting with Xi Jinping.
01:08In the past, the U.S. has made it a point not to consult China on selling weapons to Taiwan.
01:14But it seems after the summit, Trump is at least hearing Xi's views on the matter.
01:19David Sachs, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, says that doesn't bode well for Taiwan.
01:26It's not just his comment that arms sales to Taiwan are a good bargaining chip.
01:31And it's not just his dismissal of the six assurances saying that 1982 was a long time ago.
01:37But I think it's the broader framing that he put forward,
01:42which to me was evidence that Xi Jinping's narrative of Taiwan resonated with him.
01:49In a recent article in Foreign Affairs, Sachs said that even if Trump approves the arms package now,
01:55his hesitation is paying dividends for Beijing.
01:58But in Washington, D.C., senior fellow at the Stimson Center Michael Cunningham
02:03says that Trump's actions, or lack of action, are nothing new,
02:07adding that he believes Trump will approve the arms sales eventually.
02:11Trump would not be the first president to postpone arms sales.
02:16He would be the first president who openly talked about doing so.
02:19The Trump administration very much wants to see Taiwan increase its defense spending,
02:26and that's pretty hard to do without selling arms to Taiwan, right?
02:32Taipei has passed a special defense budget of 25 billion U.S. dollars
02:36to procure arms from the United States.
02:39It is ready to buy from the U.S.
02:42But the longer Trump stays silent on arms sales,
02:45the more uncertain relations will seem.
02:48Eason Sun, Luffy Lee, and Leslie Liao for Taiwan Plus.
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