Beijing Eyes Stronger Hand on Taiwan in Xi-Trump Talks

Asianomics and SCMP

China enters this week’s Xi-Trump summit with greater leverage on Taiwan than during Trump’s first term, according to Wu Yongping, dean of the Institute for Taiwan Studies at Tsinghua University, who told SCMP the issue would “definitely” be raised in the bilateral meeting. Beijing would welcome any US statements opposing Taiwan independence, though Wu assessed the space for independence as already narrowing structurally.

The two leaders avoided the Taiwan issue at their South Korea meeting in October 2025. That silence has since broken — US Secretary of State Rubio confirmed it would be on the agenda, while Chinese FM Wang Yi called it the single biggest risk in China-US relations during a recent call with Rubio. Wu assessed that Trump is less Taiwan-focused than in his first term and that Beijing believes the issue can be managed within a stable bilateral framework.

No major shift in position is expected from either side, but the framing signals Beijing intends to set terms, not react to them.