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Why is Beijing on a stronger footing to discuss Taiwan with Trump this time?
The US president ‘needs China’s cooperation on multiple fronts’, Beijing-based analyst says
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Amber Wangin Beijing
Beijing is now on a stronger footing on the Taiwan issue in talks with Donald Trump than it was during his first presidential term, according to a leading mainland analyst.
Wu Yongping, dean of the Institute for Taiwan Studies at Tsinghua University in Beijing, said the issue would “definitely” be discussed when Trump meets his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping this week.
He said in an interview that Beijing would welcome any statements opposing Taiwan independence but he believed the space for independence was narrowing in any case.
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The two leaders were unusually silent over the issue when they met in South Korea last October, but US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said recently he was “sure” it would be a “topic of conversation” – days after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi stressed it was the biggest risk point in China-US relations during a phone call between the pair.
Wu said a major shift on the issue was unlikely as Beijing believed it could be managed within the framework of a stable China-US relationship, while Trump was less focused on Taiwan than during his first term.
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“China today is very different from the country that Trump encountered during his first term,” Wu said.
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