After the Trump-Xi summit, Taipei says arming Taiwan serves U.S. interests. A $14 billion arms package still awaits a decision.

Here is the situation as of Sept. 26. President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping ended a three-day summit in Washington with no big public breakthroughs on a host of contentious issues, including Taiwan, Reuters reports. Xi told Trump he hoped the U.S. would adhere to the "correct position" of opposing Taiwan independence. In Taipei, Deputy Foreign Minister Francois Wu made the counterargument: maintaining military sales, giving Taiwan enough capability to defend itself and "allowing Taiwan's semiconductor industry to continue contributing to the world, these are important US interests," he said. The stakes are concrete. The administration approved an $11 billion arms sale to Taiwan in December, the largest ever, and a second package worth some $14 billion is pending. Trump, who said in May after meeting Xi in Beijing that he was holding a package of arms sales in abeyance, has yet to comment on Taiwan since the Washington meeting. Xi and Trump are expected to meet twice more this year, at the APEC and G20 summits. "Of course, if we can get guarantees, that would be best," Wu said. U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue told CNBC there has been no change in Taiwan policy, including on the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act. Beijing's People's Daily called Taiwan "the core of China's core interests and the first unbreakable red line in China-US relations." Assessment: in 1982 the Reagan administration gave Taipei the Six Assurances, among them that Washington would not consult Beijing on arms sales to Taiwan. The logic still holds. An arms package held in abeyance while summits are scheduled looks, from Beijing, like something that might be traded. Deterrence depends on the other side believing the commitment is not for sale. A clear decision, either way and plainly explained, would serve that better than a package left on the table between summits.