The "Second Meeting between Trump and Xi" touched on the Taiwan issue, and the outside world is concerned about whether the United States' arms sales to Taiwan will be affected. Montgomery, a retired U.S. Navy rear admiral and senior director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said in a media interview in Taipei that U.S. Secretary of State Rubio mentioned that this needs to consider the United States' own needs, but he believes This does not affect the announcement of arms sales to Taiwan. In particular, many weapons projects are not needed by the United States. Therefore, it is hoped that the United States will notify Congress of arms sales to Taiwan as soon as possible after the Trump-Xi meeting. It may not announce a $14 billion plan at once, but divide it into several small plans of $4 billion or $6 billion.
In response to the Chinese media’s accusation that Xi Jinping mentioned the Taiwan issue to President Trump and said that the United States should oppose Taiwan’s independence. Montgomery believes that what matters is how Trump responds and how the United States acts. If the United States continues to abide by the Taiwan Relations Act, adhere to the "Six Assurances", and the way the United States acts, that is, to ensure that Taiwan can obtain the weapons needed for self-defense and to conduct appropriate planning and exercises to ensure that no coercive actions against Taiwan will occur, then he believes that it will be safe.
As for whether the "Trump-Xi meeting" will help ease the situation in the Taiwan Strait, Montgomery said that dictators like Russian President Vladimir Putin will launch attacks on neighboring countries when they feel internal instability. Therefore, Xi Jinping’s opposition to Taiwan is more due to internal considerations. This means that we must be prepared and Taiwan must practice maximum social resilience. The United States has a responsibility to make appropriate arms sales and to conduct appropriate exercises and planning for crises in the Indo-Pacific region.
Montgomery noted that it was uncertain whether the risk of military conflict was increasing. But the 2027 time window is no longer valid and may be closer to 2029 or 2030. But what is more likely to happen is some kind of online campaign of economic coercion. China uses a combination of diplomatic, economic, and legal tools, as well as online activities, disinformation, and even military pretense, to break Taiwan's social resilience.
Montgomery also once again urged Taiwan to develop military interoperability with the United States. He said that we are all paying attention to arms sales, and Taiwan certainly needs to have the necessary weapons. But it’s not just arms sales, interoperability is key. It is critical that the U.S. and Taiwanese militaries be able to operate as coordinated or integrated forces. And we have not yet reached this state. The United States and Taiwan need to conduct exercises together, and a US combat training team needs to be stationed in Taiwan to train ground troops. We also need high-level military officers to visit each other. If we do not cooperate together in peacetime, it will be difficult to fight together in wartime.
In response to the suggestion by a few scholars that the United States should withdraw its military deployment to the second island chain, Montgomery refuted that this is unrealistic. He used his experience of commanding an aircraft carrier strike group stationed in Japan to emphasize that the United States needs to operate frequently between the first and second island chains. There are risks wherever one operates, but even more so when an adversary possesses a specific weapons system. We should not retreat to the second island chain. The United States should maintain its forward deployments in Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and Australia.
