Taiwan in May 2026: the most important developments in politics
In May 2026, Taiwan's politics centred on the summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. Trump arrived on May 13 for talks on trade, Iran and US arms sales to Taiwan, with a $14 billion arms deal reported to be at risk. On May 14 Xi warned Trump that mishandling the Taiwan issue could lead to conflict, and said safeguarding peace across the Taiwan Strait is the biggest common denominator between the two countries. US officials said the leaders also agreed on keeping the Strait of Hormuz open and preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. Trump called Xi 'all business' and the summit a success, but said he was undecided on new arms sales. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US policy on Taiwan was 'unchanged'. A White House fact sheet on the visit cited an Iran agreement and did not mention Taiwan.
After the summit Trump said he had discussed Taiwan with Xi, warned Taiwan against declaring independence and described the island as 9,500 miles from the United States. Taiwan said it is already independent and remains committed to the status quo. President Lai Ching-te said Taiwan would not be sacrificed or traded away and that foreign forces cannot decide its future. On May 21 Trump said he would speak to Lai before deciding on an arms sale, breaking with long-standing US protocol; Taiwan's government said it would welcome a call, while Beijing criticised the announcement and said what it called Lai's separatist attempts are doomed to fail. Trump also accused Taiwan of theft, and reports said the Iran war and the thaw in US-China relations were complicating US support for Taiwan.
Before the summit, Lai visited Eswatini on May 2, one of Taiwan's 12 remaining diplomatic allies, on a trip Taiwan said China had tried to block. Beijing urged Paraguay to cut ties with Taiwan, and China opposed US arms sales. Taiwan passed a scaled-back defence spending bill, and the World Health Assembly again rejected a proposal on Taiwan's participation, for the tenth year running.
by WorldBrief & Maksim Micheliov | AI-generated summary
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