By Allison Jackson and Joy Chiang
Taiwan said Saturday it is an “independent” nation, hours after US President Donald Trump warned the democratic island against declaring formal independence.
Trump wrapped up a state visit to Beijing on Friday where Chinese President Xi Jinping had pressed him not to support Taiwan, which China claims is part of its territory.
Taiwan depends heavily on US security backing to deter China from carrying out its threat to annex the island by force.
Taiwan “is a sovereign and independent democratic nation, and is not subordinate to the People’s Republic of China”, Taiwan’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
The ministry also insisted that US arms sales were part of Washington’s security commitment to Taiwan, after Trump said it “depends on China” and was a “very good negotiating chip for us”.
Taiwan’s statements came after Trump issued a warning to the island against making a declaration of independence.
“I’m not looking to have somebody go independent. And, you know, we’re supposed to travel 9,500 miles to fight a war. I’m not looking for that,” he told Fox News’ “Special Report with Bret Baier”.
“I want them to cool down. I want China to cool down,” Trump said.
“We’re not looking to have wars, and if you kept it the way it is, I think China’s going to be OK with that.”
But Trump added that “nothing’s changed” on US policy towards Taiwan.
The United States recognises only Beijing and does not support formal independence by Taiwan, but historically has stopped short of explicitly saying it opposes independence.
Under US law, the United States is required to provide weapons to Taiwan for its defence, but it has been ambiguous on whether US forces would come to the island’s aid.
Xi had begun the summit with a warning on Taiwan, whose President Lai Ching-te considers the island already independent, making a declaration unnecessary.
The Chinese leader told Trump that missteps on the sensitive issue could cause “conflict”.
Taiwan’s Presidential Office noted Saturday the “multiple reaffirmations from the US side, including President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, that the consistent US policy and position toward Taiwan remain unchanged”.
“Taiwan looks forward to continuing to work with the US under the firm commitments of the Taiwan Relations Act,” spokeswoman Karen Kuo said in a statement.
Ahead of the summit, Trump had said he would speak to Xi about US arms sales to Taiwan, a departure from Washington’s previous insistence that it would not consult Beijing on the matter.
Taiwan’s parliament recently approved a US$25 billion defence spending bill that will be used for US weapons.
Lawmakers have said the funds will cover nearly US$9 billion of the US$11.1 billion arms package announced by Washington in December and a second phase of arms sales — not yet approved by the United States — worth more than US$15 billion.
Speaking to reporters on Friday en route to Washington, Trump said on arms sales: “I’ll make a determination over the next fairly short period of time.”
Taiwan’s foreign ministry said arms were “not only a US security commitment to Taiwan clearly stipulated in the Taiwan Relations Act, but also a form of joint deterrence against regional threats”.
Tzeng Wei-feng of the National Chengchi University’s Institute of International Relations in Taipei said the Trump administration was “leaning to China’s position” on Taiwan in order to have better relations with Beijing and could “change the arms sale package a little bit to show their goodwill”.
Trump “overtly stating that arms are a bargaining chip is exactly what Taiwan didn’t want to hear,” Lev Nachman, a political science professor at National Taiwan University, told AFP.
“The hope is that arm sales were non-negotiable, because it’s part of the six assurances, and what Donald Trump is essentially saying is that one of those assurances no longer matters.”
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Timestamps:
00:00 Intro and recap
00:33 Day 26
09:06 Day 27
19:13 Day 28
25:22 Day 29
35:43 Day 30
46:00 Ending
47:53 Wrapping up
49:06 Outro
Recording date: Jun 01 2026
Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZYaZFwiyg1X-bkdeKY6KMA6ahCTf8Y_m
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Manuel Gual posted a photo:
Madrid 1974: A Retro Spy Comedy Through the Secret Files of a Chaotic Bureaucracy
Description
A cinematic retro series set in a fictional 1974 Madrid, blending spy comedy, bureaucratic absurdity, street chases, secret archives, analog surveillance and vintage Spanish urban life. The images recreate a world of confidential folders, smoky offices, rotary telephones, typewriters, old taxis, crowded markets, railway stations, rooftop antennas, hidden laboratories, newspaper presses and suspicious government corridors. The atmosphere feels like a lost espionage farce from the seventies: serious men in ill fitting suits, anxious messengers, improvised agents, comic confusion, urgent missions and a constant sense that every secret operation is seconds away from becoming a public disaster.
The collection moves between interior and exterior scenes with strong narrative continuity: intelligence offices full of papers, tense investigations, chaotic pursuits through Madrid streets, undercover activity in cafés and markets, and surreal technical experiments in improvised laboratories. Its visual language combines photorealistic period detail with comic exaggeration, creating a nostalgic but dynamic tribute to classic European spy parody, Spanish popular culture and analog detective fiction.
These images have been generated by Artificial Intelligence.
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