Taipei said the Trump administration had approved $11 billion worth of arms to Taiwan in December. file | Photo credit: Reuters
US President Donald Trump said on Monday (Feb 16, 2026) that he would soon decide whether to send more weapons to Taiwan, after Chinese President Xi Jinping warned against doing so.
“I’ve been talking to him about it. We had a good conversation and we’ll make a decision soon,” said Mr Trump, adding that he had a “good relationship” with the Chinese leader, whose country claims the autonomous island of Taiwan as its territory.
On February 4 Mr. In a phone call with Trump, Mr. Xi called for “mutual respect” in relations with the United States, while warning Washington against arms sales to the democratically-run island.
“The Taiwan question is a very important issue in Sino-US relations… the US should carefully manage arms sales to Taiwan,” Mr Xi said, according to China’s state broadcaster.
The two leaders will meet in Beijing in April.
China’s Communist Party has never ruled Taiwan, but Beijing claims the island of 23 million people is part of its territory and has not ruled out using force to annex it.
Washington does not officially recognize Taiwan, but remains the island territory’s main military backer — although the tone of that support has been Mr. A little softened in Trump.
Taipei said the US approved $11 billion worth of arms to Taiwan in December.
Shortly thereafter, China began large-scale live-fire drills to simulate a blockade around Taiwan’s key ports.
Mr. Although Trump adopted a softer tone on support for Taiwan in his second term, the issue remains a thorn in US-China relations.
On Saturday (February 14, 2026), Beijing’s top diplomat Wang Yi warned the United States against a “plot” against Taiwan, saying it could lead to a “conflict” with China.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, Foreign Minister Wang said that in the future, the United States may adopt China’s policy of “crossing China’s red line and inciting and conspiring to divide China through Taiwan.”
Taiwan has spent billions of dollars upgrading its military over the past decade, but is under pressure from the US to do more to protect itself from China.
Taiwan President Lai Ching-tae’s government has proposed $40 billion in additional defense spending over eight years, but the plan has been blocked 10 times by the opposition-controlled parliament since early December.
Last week, dozens of US lawmakers urged Taiwan’s opposition political parties to end their blocking of the move.
In an exclusive interview with AFP Last week, President Lai said he was confident the defense budget would be passed.
Published – February 17, 2026 12:11 pm IST
