As US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping held high-stakes talks in Beijing this week, Taiwan once again emerged as the most sensitive fault line in US-China relations. Against the backdrop of the summit, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Beijing’s preferred path would be a “voluntary” reunification with Taiwan rather than a military takeover, while warning that any attempt to force reunification through military action would be a “terrible mistake”.
Rubio, speaking amid growing global scrutiny over the Trump-Xi bilateral engagement, said China would ideally want Taiwan to “willingly voluntarily join them” through a referendum or political process. He added that what Beijing calls “reunification” has been central to Xi Jinping’s political vision throughout his tenure.
"I think China's preference is probably to have Taiwan willingly voluntarily join them. In a perfect world, what they would want is some vote or a referendum in Taiwan that agrees to fold in. I think that's what they would prefer," Marco Rubio said.
"Ultimately it's featured prominently in President Xi's mandate in the time he's been in office. He's made clear that what they call reunification, what they call it, is something that has to happen at some point. We think it would be a terrible mistake to force that through force or anything of that nature," he added.
The remarks come at a tense moment in the relationship between Washington and Beijing. During closed-door discussions in Beijing, Xi reportedly warned Trump that mishandling the Taiwan issue could trigger “clashes and even conflicts” between the two powers. Chinese officials reiterated that Taiwan remains the “most critical” issue in bilateral ties and cautioned Washington against supporting any move toward formal Taiwanese independence.
While the public optics of the Trump-Xi summit projected warmth and cooperation, the Taiwan issue dominated strategic discussions behind the scenes. Trump’s visit, his first to China since returning to office, comes amid heightened tensions over trade, artificial intelligence, regional security and China’s growing military assertiveness around Taiwan.
Notably, over the years, Rubio has consistently backed stronger US support for Taiwan and has been sharply critical of the Chinese Communist Party’s policies, including on Hong Kong and Xinjiang. Beijing had previously sanctioned Rubio over his comments and actions related to China’s human rights record and support for Taiwan.
Even as Washington officially maintains its “One China” policy, the US continues to deepen military and strategic ties with Taiwan, including arms sales and defence cooperation. China, meanwhile, has repeatedly stated that it reserves the right to use force if necessary to achieve reunification, although it says peaceful unification remains its preferred option.
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Megha Rawat is an Assistant News Editor at Times Now, where she drives the national news narrative with sharp political reporting, election coverage a...View More
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