US cannot ‘give even an inch’ to Xi on Taiwan

Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth arrives in Taiwan on Monday to reaffirm the United States’ long-term commitment to the island’s security. His trip comes as U.S. President Donald Trump’s transactional approach to foreign relations increasingly raises questions about Washington’s reliability in the face of China’s growing aggression.

Duckworth will be the first U.S. senator to visit Taiwan since Trump’s May meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. During that meeting, Xi told Trump that “the Taiwan issue is the most important issue in China-US relations” and warned that if the issue was not handled properly, it could lead to “clashes or even conflicts” between the two countries, according to Reading from Beijing of the procedure. In a Fox News interview broadcast immediately after his visit, Trump said U.S. arms sales to Taiwan were a “very good bargaining chip” in relations with Beijing.

Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth arrives in Taiwan on Monday to reaffirm the United States’ long-term commitment to the island’s security. His trip comes as U.S. President Donald Trump’s transactional approach to foreign relations increasingly raises questions about Washington’s reliability in the face of China’s growing aggression.

Duckworth will be the first U.S. senator to visit Taiwan since Trump’s May meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. During that meeting, Xi told Trump that “the Taiwan issue is the most important issue in China-US relations” and warned that if the issue was not handled properly, it could lead to “clashes or even conflicts” between the two countries, according to Reading from Beijing of the procedure. In a Fox News interview broadcast immediately after his visit, Trump said U.S. arms sales to Taiwan were a “very good bargaining chip” in relations with Beijing.

Trump’s comments, coming as Taiwan waits for him to approve a $14 billion arms package, generated significant anxiety in Taipei. In the Fox News interview, Trump said he was keeping the arms package “on hold and it’s up to China.” This appears to break with decades of US policy under the so-called Six Assurances, one of which stipulates that Washington will not consult Beijing on arms sales to Taiwan.

“It’s really critical that we don’t give even an inch to President Xi, and that’s why I really wanted to go to Taiwan at that time,” Duckworth said. Foreign policy in an exclusive interview. The trip aims to send a message to China: “We’re not going to let them intimidate the rest of the world,” the senator said.

Duckworth believes that his past support for Taiwan, through legislation and vaccine diplomacy during the COVID-19 pandemic, puts her in a strong position to convey to the island the message that “the United States will be here” for the long term. “Presidents come, presidents go,” she said, but “the commitment to our role on the world stage remains.”

Duckworth also characterized the visit as a “great economic investment trip”. The Illinois senator highlighted the vital role Taiwan plays in the global economy through semiconductor chip production, while emphasizing the importance of the Taiwan Strait, a critical maritime chokepoint, to international shipping. Duckworth said the U.S. economy would not be able to function “without the manufacturing supply chain that we get from Taiwan.”

Pointing to the fact that the average American car contains a large number of chips made in Taiwan, Duckworth said she was working hard to get the island to invest and manufacture chips in the United States.

“Part of what I do is promoting economic investment in the United States and particularly in Illinois, but it’s also about national security interests,” Duckworth said of his visit’s priorities.

The senator is expected to meet senior leaders and officials during her stay there, including President Lai Ching-te; Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim; Joseph Wu, head of Taiwan’s National Security Council; Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Han Kuo-yu; Minister of Maritime Affairs Kuan Bi-ling; Minister of Economy Kung Ming-hsin; and Defense Minister Wellington Koo.

Duckworth said the trip was also intended to reassure allies more broadly that the United States would remain engaged with the rest of the world amid volatility and dismay brought on by the Trump administration’s actions and policies.

“This administration has really downplayed the importance of diplomacy and America’s role in the world,” Duckworth said. Foreign policyhighlighting the fact that the Trump administration has requested a State Department budget for the next fiscal year of approximately $34 billion– less than the United States spent in just a few months.bomb Iran.”

“The rest of the world is nervous, nervous, worried about the United States moving closer to Russia and the PRC. [People’s Republic of China]and they want to know that America is going to stay engaged,” Duckworth said. This is about “reassuring allies of our commitment” to the Indo-Pacific as a strategic priority, she said.

Taiwan has gave the alarm about Chinese military activities and espionage in recent months. China considers Taiwan its own territory and a breakaway province, and there have long been fears that it could take military action against the island to seize it by force. Trump’s critics said his unpredictability and relatively friendly stance toward Xi had only added to the island’s fears.

Taiwan is “very concerned” that Trump is “dithering on the $14 billion arms package,” Duckworth said. “And frankly, his willingness to let China have a say in whether or not we move their package forward is deeply troubling,” she added.

Last month expressed his optimism that Trump would soon approve the arms package. “President Trump’s arms sales to Taiwan have mostly met Taiwan’s needs, and so we also have high hopes for these future arms sales,” the Taiwanese president said in response to a question about the sale. At the end of June, Michael DeSombre, US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, told Congress that arms sales were not dependent on China and that there had been no “deviation” from long-standing US policy. But questions remain about why Trump continues to delay the package.

In response to a request for comment on the status of the $14 billion arms deal, a senior Trump administration official said Foreign policy: “As President Trump said, he will make a decision in fairly short order regarding a new arms package to Taiwan.” Trump in mid-May said he would “make a decision in the next fairly short period” regarding the package.

“The president approved $11.1 billion in arms sales to Taiwan in December 2025, which is consistent with U.S. policy since the 1950s,” the official added. It was the biggest The US arms package to Taiwan in history. Beijing strongly criticized the record arms sale, launch military exercises near Taiwan, just 11 days after the package was announced.

Although Washington does not maintain formal diplomatic relations with Taipei, it has maintained close unofficial ties with the island for nearly half a century (while continuing to recognize China as the principal diplomatic representative of the Chinese people, but without recognizing Beijing’s sovereignty claims over Taiwan). The United States is legally required to provide Taiwan with defensive weapons under the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979 and has supplied the island with billions of dollars’ worth of weapons over the years.

Duckworth said she was concerned that Trump was not committed to Taiwan and signaled that even some of her Republican colleagues shared her concerns. “Support for Taiwan is bipartisan,” she said.

“Look, I’m a broken down old soldier. All I care about is America’s national security,” said Duckworth, an Iraq War veteran who lost both of her legs when the Black Hawk helicopter she was co-piloting was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. “And our role in the Indo-Pacific region as a Pacific nation, as a leader, both economically but also strategically, is critically important to America’s well-being, and Taiwan plays a major role in that,” she said. “Maintaining Taiwan’s freedom and independence is important to our national security.”