Trump says China’s president also pledged ‘strongly’ not to send weapons to Iran, after two-hour meeting between the leaders

China’s president, Xi Jinping, has warned of “clashes and even conflicts” with the US over Taiwan after meeting Donald Trump in Beijing.

Xi’s remarks, published by China’s foreign ministry after his two-hour meeting with Trump on Thursday morning, said Taiwan was “the most important issue in China-US relations”.
 

China is keen to put Taiwan at the top of an agenda that risks being overshadowed by the war in Iran and disagreements over trade. Beijing wants the US to reduce its levels of support for the self-governing island, which China claims as part of its territory. Xi has made “unification” with Taiwan a core priority for his legacy and has not ruled out the use of force to achieve that aim.

Trump later said Xi had pledged not to send weapons to Iran, despite recent reports that Chinese arms manufacturers had discussed deals to supply weapons to Tehran.

“He said he’s not going to give military equipment, that’s a big statement,” Trump said, adding that Xi had said it “strongly”. “But at the same time, he said you know they buy a lot of their oil there and they’d like to keep doing that. He’d like to see Hormuz strait opened.”

China has considered sending shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles called Manpads to Iran via third countries in order to mask their origin, US intelligence officials have said. China has denied the reports.

Xi tells Trump that mishandling of Taiwan could lead to 'dangerous' place