Taiwan's president urges Trump to keep US arms sales to the island flowing: 'China has not abandoned the idea of annexing us by force'

On Sunday, Taiwan President Lai Ching-te called on the White House to sustain collaboration with the Asian island on arms sales, two days after President Donald Trump put a $14 billion military package on hold following his summit in Beijing with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.

In a lengthy statement posted on Facebook following a meeting with his national security team, the Taiwanese leader thanked Washington for its historic backing amid the Chinese threat and called military cooperation with the United States "indispensable" to maintaining stability in the Taiwan Strait.

Part of Lai's message was a defense of U.S. arms sales to Taiwan. Military cooperation between Taipei and Washington, he recalled, is based on the Taiwan Relations Act, in effect since 1979, which requires the United States to provide the island with defensive weaponry. That law, he argued, "has for decades been the main deterrent against those who threaten regional peace and stability."

Lai explained in his statement that the U.S. armament is not simply a favor to the island, but a key piece of the Indo-Pacific security architecture.

However, the message was far from confrontational, with Lai thanking the U.S. for its historic backing of Taiwan and Trump for continuing his policy toward Taipei.

"We thank President Trump for the sustained support for peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait since his first term, including the progressive increase in the volume and amount of arms sales to Taiwan," he said. Subsequently, he stressed that his government does not expect everything from Washington, as the island has been raising its defense budget, advancing military reforms and strengthening its mobilization capabilities.

Lai also warned about the threat posed by the Chinese regime and explained why, according to him, stopping arms sales would be a miscalculation.

"China has never abandoned the idea of annexing Taiwan by force and continues to expand its military capabilities in an attempt to disrupt the regional status quo and across the Taiwan Strait," he said. Air and naval incursions, large-scale military exercises and coercion in the "gray zone" are, for the Taiwanese. This problem extends beyond the island and threatens the entire first Indo-Pacific island chain.

Lai's statement comes after Trump's Friday interview with Fox News's Bret Baier following his Beijing tour. The president admitted he had not yet signed the package and raised it as a pending letter: "Well, I haven't approved it yet. We're gonna see what happens." He also warned that formal Taiwan independence would be "very risky" and that a government pursuing it would be seeking a U.S.-backed war.