Taiwanese officials said US policy toward Taiwan would not change and a US$14 billion arms package would not be cancelled after US President 
Donald Trump meets Chinese President 
Xi Jinping in Washington this week. Xi is expected to press Trump to halt Taiwan arms sales under a 1982 joint statement, and could do so at the US National Archives, the Taipei Times reported, citing sources briefed on the matter. The September 24 talks will be the leaders' second meeting this year.
What did the security adviser say about the arms sale? Asked in a radio interview whether Washington might cancel the sale after the summit, National Security Council adviser Alex Huang said doing so would amount to telling the world that US national security strategy was wrong, so it would not happen, CNA reported. He said US-Taiwan security cooperation had never been interrupted and was growing in scale. In remarks reported by the Liberty Times, Huang said the sale was "all in process" and joked that it would not take "longer than the time we delayed it ourselves."
How did he frame the summit? Huang said the summit could be viewed positively if it managed the risks of authoritarian expansion, and that Taiwan need not worry unduly about being traded as a bargaining chip because the first island chain and Taiwan's security were strategic-level concerns for the US, CNA reported. For Xi, the core task was creating favourable conditions for re-election at the Communist Party's 21st Congress, Huang said.
What did the Mainland Affairs Council say? Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said supporting Taiwan was a bipartisan consensus in the US and that Taiwan would work with the US and other democracies to safeguard peace in the Taiwan Strait, CNA reported. His deputy, Shen Yu-chung, speaking at a seminar covered by the Taipei Times, said he believed the US would not change its policy toward Taiwan.
How did the legislative caucuses respond? Democratic Progressive Party caucus whip Chuang Jui-hsiung said the summit was a great-power contest but there was no need to write the script in advance or create panic at home, and that Taiwan could not be a pawn at the negotiating table. "We will have our own role, and the decision still rests with us," Chuang said. Kuomintang caucus secretary-general Hsu Yu-chen said the renewed meeting, spanning trade, technology, supply chains and regional security, was bound to affect the Indo-Pacific, and that Taiwan's interests must not be overlooked in great-power negotiations, the Liberty Times reported.
Figures referenced: Donald Trump, Xi Jinping. — JudgeMarket.
