by WorldTribune Staff, May 15, 2026 Non-AI Real World News

The small island nation of Taiwan if off the radar screen for most of the world’s population. But as a bastion of democracy, freedom and the cultural values that define the real China, it clearly occupies the mind of Chinese Communist Party dictator Xi Jinping.

Though the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has never ruled Taiwan, it claims the island as Chinese territory and has not ruled out using force to seize control.

Taiwan’s leaders says only the self-governing island’s 23 million people can determine its future.

U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed on Friday that Taiwan was indeed a major topic of discussion during his summit with Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One while traveling to Alaska, Trump said he and Xi spoke “a lot” about Taiwan during their meeting in Beijing, where the Chinese leader said that the issue of Taiwan could trigger clashes between the world’s two largest economies.

“On Taiwan, he does not want to see a fight for independence because that would be a very strong confrontation,” Trump said.

When asked whether a confrontation with China over Taiwan was possible, Trump expressed confidence that it’s unlikely that the situation will deteriorate into an outbreak of hostilities.

“I think we’ll be fine,” Trump said, adding that the Chinese leader “doesn’t want to see a war.”

For Xi, the Taiwan issue was priority one. According to China’s readout of the summit, Xi warned Trump that Washington “must exercise extra caution” in handling Taiwan.

“If it is handled properly, the bilateral relationship will enjoy overall stability,” the statement said. “Otherwise, the two countries will have clashes and even conflicts, putting the entire relationship in great jeopardy.”

Related: He said, he said: Tale of two readouts on Trump-Xi meeting, May 14, 2026

Trump declined to say whether the United States would defend Taiwan militarily in the event of a Chinese attack.

“I don’t want to say that,” Trump said. “There’s only one person that knows that … me.”

Trump also confirmed that the two sides discussed U.S. arms sales to Taiwan “in great detail,” but indicated that he had made no final decision on an $11.1 billion weapons package approved by Washington in December 2025, the largest ever proposed for the island democracy.

“We discussed the Taiwan … whole thing with the arm sales in great detail, actually,” Trump said. “I’ll be making decisions.”

The package includes high-mobility artillery rocket systems, self-propelled howitzers, drones, Javelin anti-tank missiles, anti-armor systems, helicopter spare parts, and refurbishment kits for Harpoon missiles.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who participated in the Beijing meetings, said Xi’s comments were expected and stressed that U.S. policy toward Taiwan had not changed.

“They always raise it on their side. We always make clear our position, and we move on to the other topics,” Rubio told NBC News.

Rubio also warned that it would be “a terrible mistake” for China to attempt to take Taiwan by force.

“There would be repercussions for that globally, not just from the United States,” Rubio said, adding that this “sort of ambiguity” is how the United States characterizes the issue of Taiwan in talks with China.

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council deputy minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh told reporters in Taipei that “at this point, all we can say is that there has been no surprising information so far, and we will continue to maintain close communication with the American side.”

“If maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is truly the greatest common ground between China and the United States, then the Chinese Communist Party should restrain its own behavior of military intimidation,” Liang said.

Taiwan’s foreign ministry similarly described Beijing as “the sole risk to regional peace and stability,” citing China’s military operations in the Taiwan Strait, East China Sea, and South China Sea.

Meanwhile, U.S. legacy media jumped on what they insist was Xi criticizing Trump by saying that America was a “declining nation.”

Trump responded in a post to Truth Social:

When President Xi very elegantly referred to the United States as perhaps being a declining nation, he was referring to the tremendous damage we suffered during the four years of Sleepy Joe Biden and the Biden Administration, and on that score, he was 100% correct. Our Country suffered immeasurably with open borders, high taxes, transgender for everybody, men in women’s sports, DEI, horrible trade deals, rampant crime, and so much more!

President Xi was not referring to the incredible rise that the United States has displayed to the world during the 16 spectacular months of the Trump Administration, which includes all-time high stock markets and 401K’s, military victory and thriving relationship in Venezuela, the military decimation of Iran (to be continued!) — Strongest military on earth by far, economic powerhouse again, with a record 18 trillion dollars being invested into the United States by others, best U.S. job market in history, with more people working in the United States right now than ever before, ending country destroying DEI, and so many other things that it would be impossible to readily list. In fact, President Xi congratulated me on so many tremendous successes in such a short period of time.

Two years ago, we were, in fact, a Nation in decline. On that, I fully agree with President Xi! But now, the United States is the hottest Nation anywhere in the world, and hopefully our relationship with China will be stronger and better than ever before!

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