Washington: US President Donald Trump said he held extensive discussions with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Taiwan, artificial intelligence, Iran, trade, cyber operations and nuclear arms reduction, describing the talks as “very historic” and signalling a possible easing of tensions between the world’s two largest economies.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One while travelling to Anchorage, Alaska, Trump repeatedly praised Xi and said the two leaders had developed “a very good understanding” on several major geopolitical issues.
“President Xi is an incredible guy,” Trump said. “We had an amazing time. It was a very historic couple of days, I think.”
The President disclosed that Taiwan dominated much of the conversation, with Xi strongly opposing any movement towards Taiwanese independence.
“President Xi and I talked a lot about Taiwan,” Trump said. “On Taiwan, he does not want to see a fight for independence because that would be a very strong confrontation.”
Trump said Xi directly raised concerns over US arms sales to Taiwan and asked whether Washington would defend the island militarily in the event of conflict.
“He asked me if I’d defend them. I said, I don’t talk about that,” Trump said.
The President added that he would soon decide whether to proceed with future arms sales to Taiwan.
“I’ll make a determination over the next fairly short period of time,” he said.
Trump also revealed that Washington and Beijing discussed cooperation on artificial intelligence safeguards.
“We talked about possibly working together for guardrails,” he said. “AI is fantastic. So many things can happen in terms of health and medicine and operations, everything, the military.”
The President suggested the two countries could cooperate to manage risks linked to biological, nuclear and cyber threats arising from advanced AI systems.
On trade, Trump announced what he described as a massive Boeing agreement involving more than 200 aircraft purchases by China, with a possible expansion to 750 planes.
“They’re buying General Electric,” Trump said, referring to aircraft engines linked to the Boeing deal.
Trump said the leaders also discussed nuclear arms reduction and denuclearisation involving China, Russia and the United States.
“We brought it up, the denuclearization,” Trump said. “The concept of that is something that would be very good.”
The President additionally disclosed that cyber operations and espionage were openly discussed between the two sides.
“We spy like hell on them, too,” Trump said while responding to questions about Chinese espionage in the United States.
Trump also said Xi agreed that Iran should not be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons.
“He feels strongly they can’t have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said.
The remarks suggest a potentially broader strategic engagement between Washington and Beijing despite continuing rivalry over trade, technology, military influence and the Indo-Pacific. The Taiwan issue remains among the most sensitive flashpoints in US-China relations.
