Taiwan following developments as Trump, Xi talk over phone

Taipei, Sept. 20 (CNA) Taiwan is staying on top of new developments in international affairs, the Presidential Office said after United States President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) spoke on the phone on Friday U.S. time.

"We continue to monitor the latest developments in international affairs; we are paying close attention and staying on top [of the situation]," Presidential Office spokesperson Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said Saturday while accompanying President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) at a forum.

"In the future, we will continue to maintain close contacts with the American side," she said, in response to questions on Taiwan's reaction to the Trump-Xi telephone conversation.

In her brief remarks, Kuo did not mention if Taiwan had been briefed on the call by the U.S.

"We are developing close ties across different sectors in the U.S. and maintaining friendly relations, which is the government's job," Kuo said.

After the phone conversion, Trump said on Truth Social that he completed a "very productive" call with Xi.

"We made progress on many very important issues including Trade, Fentanyl, the need to bring the War between Russia and Ukraine to an end, and the approval of the TikTok Deal."

Trump said the two will meet at the upcoming APEC summit, referring to the multilateral gathering set to take place in the southeastern South Korean city of Gyeongju of South Korea from Oct. 31 to Nov. 1.

Trump will visit China in early 2026, while the Chinese leader will visit the United States "at an appropriate time," the U.S. president wrote on Truth Social.

In a separate statement, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the conversation as "pragmatic, positive and constructive."

It said both sides had exchanges of views on China-U.S. relations and other issues of mutual interest, providing strategic guidance for the steady development of bilateral ties going forward.

Neither Trump nor China's foreign ministry mentioned Taiwan in their statements.

According to a Reuters report dated Friday, Alexander Yui (俞大㵢), Taiwan's representative to the U.S., recently met with a group of intelligence advisers, including Devin Nunes, chairman of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board.

Two sources familiar with the matter said the meeting with Yui "amounted to one of the higher-level Taiwan-U.S. contacts to date during Trump's second term," the report said.