Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said on Sunday, September 27, that the recent meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) focused on U.S.-China economic and trade issues, which is consistent with the information Taiwan had obtained in advance.

Xi visited the United States and met with Trump at the White House on September 24. Washington and Beijing both issued their own statements on the outcomes, neither of which mentioned Taiwan. Trump said during a joint media interview on September 26 that his talks with Xi touch on Taiwan, but the two sides did not spend much time on the topic.

The Foreign Ministry said that there is no inherent need for U.S.-China discussions to touch upon Taiwan. U.S. State Secretary Marco Rubio and other senior U.S. officials have repeatedly stated that the country’s policy toward Taiwan has not changed.

The ministry stressed that China’s gray-zone harassment and military threats in the East China Sea, the South China Sea, the Taiwan Strait, and waters around Taiwan have led it to be viewed as the side undermining regional peace and stability. Taiwan’s government will continue to work closely with the U.S. and other like-minded partners to jointly safeguard peace and stability, as well as the region’s freedom, openness, and prosperity.