Beijing has issued a stern warning to Washington over its arms sales to Taiwan, with the Chinese Embassy in the United States urging the Trump administration to exercise restraint as a multibillion-dollar weapons package remains under consideration.
Chinese Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu told Congress.net that Beijing’s position on the matter leaves no room for ambiguity.
“China’s opposition to the U.S.’s arms sales to Taiwan is consistent, clear and rock-firm,” Pengyu said, adding that China urges the US to “implement the important common understandings between our two leaders, honor its commitments and statements, exercise extra caution in handling the Taiwan question.”
The warning comes amid reports that the Trump administration is weighing approval of a $14 billion arms package for Taiwan, one of the largest ever proposed. The deal, which includes advanced interceptor missiles, has been held up for months, with the issue taking centre stage during Trump’s recent visit to Beijing.
The Trump-Xi summit opened with Xi issuing a stark warning about the potential for conflict over Taiwan, prompting Trump to signal he had no appetite for escalation. “The last thing we need right now is a war that’s 9,500 miles away,” Trump told reporters on the flight back to Washington, remarks he made directly in the context of the stalled package.
Washington approved its largest-ever weapons sale to Taiwan — worth $11 billion — in December 2025, a move Beijing responded to with large-scale military drills around the island. Taiwan’s parliament has since passed a special defence budget, much of which is expected to be directed towards further American arms purchases, including anti-drone systems.
Beijing has consistently framed such sales as a violation of longstanding diplomatic commitments. Spokesperson Pengyu called on Washington to “stop sending any wrong message to ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces, and safeguard peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait as well as the momentum of steady development of China-US relations with concrete actions.”
China’s Foreign Ministry has echoed those demands, urging the US to handle the Taiwan question with utmost prudence and honour the consensus reached between the two presidents during their summit earlier this month.
Taiwan, for its part, has signalled confidence that the deal remains on track. Defence Minister Wellington Koo confirmed the government had received a letter of guarantee from Washington indicating willingness to authorise the next sale, and said Taipei had been in close communication with the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency on the items, amounts, and transaction terms involved.
The standoff underscores the fragile balancing act at the heart of US-China-Taiwan relations. Washington maintains a policy of strategic ambiguity over Taiwan’s status, selling arms to the island under the Taiwan Relations Act while officially recognising Beijing’s one-China policy. China regards Taiwan as a breakaway province and has not ruled out force to achieve reunification.
With Trump having signalled reluctance to antagonise Beijing so soon after the summit, the fate of the $14 billion package now sits at the intersection of superpower diplomacy and Taiwan’s long-term defence posture.
