The call focused on easing trade tensions, but Xi also said that the US “must handle the Taiwan question with prudence” and make sure “fringe separatists” did not drag China and the US into “confrontation or even conflict”, according to state news agency Xinhua.
While Trump posted on social media that his 90-minute conversation with Xi “focused almost entirely on TRADE”, Xinhua quoted him as saying the US “will honour the one-China policy”.
The call reinforced the sense of growing scepticism in Taiwan towards the US as a result of Trump’s comments on defence, semiconductors and the tariffs he imposed on the island.
“Mainland China’s usual practice is they only make a phone call when a certain consensus can be reached,” Cheng Chao-hsin, the deputy mayor of Taichung city told local media.
“This makes us very anxious about Taiwan’s trade negotiations, as we now find that both Japan and the mainland are ahead of us.”
