Trump says he will raise Taiwan arms sales with Xi in Beijing

US President Donald Trump said Monday that he plans to discuss US arms sales to Taiwan with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visit to Beijing this week.

“I’m going to have that discussion with President Xi,” Trump told reporters at the White House when asked about US support for Taiwan’s defense. “President Xi would like us not to, and I’ll have that discussion. That’s one of the many things I’ll be talking about.”

Asked what he hopes to achieve from the summit in China and whether the course of the war with Iran impacted the agenda, Trump responded: “I have a great relationship with President Xi. We're doing a lot of business, but it's smart business.”

“We used to be taken advantage of for years … and now we’re doing great with China. We make a lot of money with China,” Trump said.

“In Hormuz, they get a big percentage, 40% of their oil from Hormuz,” he said, adding that tensions there had not led to disruptions in maritime traffic.

“There’s been no ships coming in, no nasty ships coming in, that we end up in skirmishes with,” Trump said.

He added that Beijing also had an interest in de-escalation. “He’d like to see it get done,” Trump said of Xi, adding: “I respect him a lot, and hopefully, he respects me.”

Trump is set to depart for an official visit to China on Tuesday, his first trip in almost nine years.

The visit comes amid a prolonged US-Israeli war with Iran which began on Feb. 28, when Washington and Tel Aviv initiated a military campaign that has killed over 3,300 people and displaced tens of thousands in Iran.

China has opposed the "illegal" military strikes and described US and Israeli actions as the "root cause” of disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, which remains under blockades by Washington and Tehran.

The fighting halted on April 8 after a Pakistan-mediated ceasefire, which has since been extended, but the US and Iran are yet to reach an agreement to end the war permanently.