Perdue Says No Timeline Yet on $14 Billion Taiwan Arms Sale, Insists Taiwan Policy Unchanged

U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue said Friday that there is no timetable for President Donald Trump to sign off on a $14 billion arms sale to Taiwan, telling Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom” that “we don’t know” when it will happen because “President Trump has a schedule of his own.”

Co-host Bill Hemmer asked Perdue whether anything had changed in the U.S. position on Taiwan following recent high-level meetings. Perdue said flatly that it had not.

“Absolutely not. In Busan, it didn’t even come up. In May, President Xi brought it up. President Trump listened actively. And, in this meeting, it came up briefly. But let me be very clear, President Trump, since he was inaugurated, has not changed the position on the United States’ One China Policy. We fully support the Taiwan Relations Act, the Three Communiqués, and the Six Assurances. President Trump, again, echoed that position of the United States federal government. We have not changed our position on Taiwan, we don’t support independence, but we really don’t support coercion, either.”

Hemmer pressed further on the pending $14 billion sale of military hardware, which he noted has sat on Trump’s desk for some time and would help Taipei defend itself. He asked when it would be signed.

“Well, we don’t know. President Trump has a schedule of his own. And he has already sold 50% more arms to Taiwan than any other president since 1979. So, he’s already demonstrated that support. But, again, our position is, we want peace in the strait, we want a peaceful resolution. This is between the people of Taiwan and the people of China.”

Perdue’s comments reaffirm that Washington continues to operate under its longstanding One China Policy, which is anchored by the Taiwan Relations Act, the Three Communiqués, and the Six Assurances. He said the administration neither supports Taiwanese independence nor accepts coercion against the island, and that Beijing raised the Taiwan issue only briefly in the latest talks after President Xi Jinping had raised it more substantively in May.