Dennis Lei watched the recent summit between Chinese president Xi Jinping and U.S. president Donald Trump in Washington, D.C. with keen interest.
Lei has served as Director General of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Chicago, since 2023. He studied Diplomacy and International Law at National Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan, from 1997-2000, and earned a B.A. in American and English Literature, at National Central University in Taiwan in 1994.
The small island nation just east of China – about the size of Maryland – has only 23 million people (compared to China’s 1.4 billion), but has grown to become America’s fourth-largest trading partner, behind just Mexico, Canada and China.
While the Xi-Trump meetings this past week were heavy on pomp, pageantry, tours, and talk of pandas coming to the Atlanta zoo, there was very little in substantial policy discussion.
Lei – who represents Taiwan to seven Midwest states (including Iowa and Illinois) – wanted to see the U.S. be stronger in supporting Taiwan regarding the mighty China, a superpower and rival to America, aligned with Russia and Iran.
“Our position is clear and consistent: the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other; Taiwan’s sovereignty belongs to the people of Taiwan; the Chinese Communist Party regime has no authority to represent the people of Taiwan; and Taiwan’s future can only be determined collectively by the people of Taiwan through democratic means,” Lei said in an interview with WVIK Friday, Sept. 25.
President Lai Ching-te of Taiwan has repeatedly reaffirmed that Taiwan is a responsible party committed to maintaining the status quo of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and in the region.
“In fact, it is China’s continued gray-zone coercion and military threats in the East China Sea, South China Sea, Taiwan Strait, and areas surrounding Taiwan that are undermining regional peace and stability,” Lei said. “China has increasingly been regarded by relevant countries as the region’s most significant source of risk. Beijing’s efforts to influence and discourage normal exchanges and cooperation between Taiwan and other countries through various means have also continued to draw international attention and vigilance.”
Soon after an earlier Trump-Xi meeting in May, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that U.S. policy on Taiwan has not changed. On the eve of the Trump-Xi meeting this month, multiple countries continued to underscore the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
These included a joint statement by the foreign ministers of the U.S., Japan, and the Republic of Korea, as well as a joint statement issued by foreign ministers and senior representatives from Australia, France, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Poland, the Republic of Korea, and the United Kingdom.
These statements clearly demonstrate that maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and opposing attempts to unilaterally change the status quo have become matters of broad international concern, Lei said.
Before the summit Sept. 23-25, China's state news agency issued a statement calling on the U.S. to come out against Taiwan's formal independence. The U.S. has no formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, and it has long maintained a position of "strategic ambiguity" as to whether it would defend the self-ruled democracy militarily if China were to use force.
“This is our most difficult relationship in the world,” Nicholas Burns, former U.S. ambassador to China, told NPR's Leila Fadel on Morning Edition.
“American people want their president to be polite and civil to a foreign leader, but the over-the-top flattery by President Trump of President Xi, the red carpets, the pomp and circumstance, the marching bands, President Xi is not going to be swayed by that,” Burns said. “He's highly intelligent. Obviously, he is not sentimental and he's very cynical about the United States. And his government's aim is to overtake us in power.”
But other observers have argued that the pomp can only help what has become a bitter and tense relationship between the world's two largest economies.
“In addition, more than 60 bipartisan members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives have voiced their support for and solidarity with Taiwan,” Lei said Friday. “Taiwan will continue to work closely with the United States and other like-minded partners to jointly safeguard peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, as well as freedom, openness, and prosperity in the region.
Increasing investment in the U.S.
“Last year, Taiwan's overseas outbound investment, 40% of that go to the United States. So the United States has become Taiwan's number-one largest outbound investment destination country,” he said in the WVIK interview, noting in 2010, of Taiwan’s investment, 80% went to China.
“It's fully driven by the business, business judgment, consideration, and also the global supply chain reshuffle,” Lei said. Exports to the U.S. include AI servers, computer chips, semiconductors and reliance on electronics. He added automotive parts account for the largest portion of expansion of exports to the U.S.
“Taiwan and also the United States still keep the cutting edge and the world technology innovation design number one,” Lei said. “Because of a neighbor of Beijing for decades, Taiwan had already developed the world number-one manufacturing capability. So that and also that we are very reliable partner to the United States.”
“We are there to help the United States keep your cutting edge,” he added. “The world leader in industrial innovation, but also Taiwan should help the United States and also industrialize in your manufacturing sector. And earlier this year, Taiwan announced $250-billion investment in the United States.”
“AI can really change the future of our world. And our partnership already with the United States and also in terms of AI, our advantage is that we can produce the world number-one, the best chips,” Lei said. “And also 90% of the servers are from the Taiwanese companies.”
In January 2026, a deal was announced that Taiwanese chipmakers like TSMC that expand U.S. production will be charged a lower tariff on semiconductors or related manufacturing equipment and products they import into the U.S. and can import some duty-free. Broad tariffs that apply to most other Taiwanese exports to the U.S. will fall from 20% to 15%.
In exchange, Taiwanese companies will invest $250 billion to increase production of semiconductors, energy and artificial intelligence in the U.S. That includes $100 billion already committed by TSMC in 2025, with more to come, according to U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
Taiwan will also guarantee an additional $250 billion in credit to facilitate further investment, the Trump administration said. The deal deepens the Trump administration's ties with Taipei at a critical time as China ratchets up pressure on the island, which it views as its own, and Washington has worked to avoid an all-out trade war with Beijing, according to Reuters.
Independence and arms sales
At the recent summit, China’s Xi urged Trump to oppose “Taiwan independence,” according to a readout from the official Chinese news agency Xinhua. The White House did not immediately provide its own summary.
Xi was expected to press Trump to halt arms sales to Taiwan. After his visit to China in May, Trump said he was holding in abeyance an arms package to Taiwan worth about $14 billion and called it a “very good negotiating chip” – rattling some U.S. allies in Asia.
Taiwan, then under the Republic of China (ROC) government, was one of the founding members of the United Nations in 1945 and held a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. After the ROC government retreated to Taiwan in 1949, the PRC was established on the mainland. In 1971, the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 2758, which recognized the PRC government as “the only lawful representatives of China to the United Nations.”
Taiwan, officially known as the Republic of China (ROC), is an island separated from China by the Taiwan Strait. Mainland China, officially the People’s Republic of China (PRC), is under Chinese Communist Party (CCP) rule and asserts that Taiwan is an integral part of its territory, though it has never governed the island, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
The PRC views the island as a renegade province and vows to eventually “unify” Taiwan with the mainland, preferably by peaceful means but by force if necessary.
Many foreign policy analysts fear a Chinese attack on Taiwan could draw the U.S. into a destructive and costly war with China.
The platform of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the KMT’s chief rival, has long claimed Taiwan as a sovereign, independent country under the name of the ROC, and therefore does not need to declare independence.
The DPP rejected the 1992 Consensus, but then-President Tsai Ing-wen attempted to find another formulation acceptable to Beijing. In her 2016 inaugural address, Tsai pledged to “conduct cross-strait affairs in accordance with the Republic of China Constitution” and other relevant legislation, which contains a One China framework. Beijing, however, rejected this and cut off official contact with Taiwan.
In a 2019 speech, Xi reiterated that Taiwan be incorporated into the PRC under the formula of “one country, two systems.” This is the same model Beijing pledged to Hong Kong when the former British colony was handed over in 1997, guaranteeing the region’s ability to preserve its economic and political systems with a “high degree of autonomy.” Such a framework is deeply unpopular among the Taiwanese people.
Pointing to Beijing’s recent crackdown on Hong Kong’s freedoms, Tsai and even the KMT rejected the “one country, two systems” framework.
In April 2025, the United States, for the first time, publicly criticized China’s misuse of the UNGA resolution 2758 at the UN Security Council (adopted in 1971).
The U.S. has consistently articulated four key positions: that Resolution 2758 does not endorse China’s “One China Principle,” does not affect other countries’ sovereign decisions regarding Taiwan, does not determine Taiwan’s political status, and does not preclude Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations, the Council on Foreign Relations says.
“Taiwan’s exclusion from the United Nations leaves a capable democracy and major contributor to global health, technology, disaster response, and supply chains without a meaningful voice and contributions in the UN system. Taiwan’s meaningful participation in appropriate UN activities would allow it to contribute its expertise while further strengthening international cooperation.”
A partner in U.S. farm goods
Late last year, Taiwan sent a very large agricultural goodwill mission, and announced $10 billion in purchasing agricultural products from the U.S. “The United States continues to be Taiwan's number-one agriculture product import country and also that the percentage we import also keep increasing,” Lei said.
China should not intimidate Taiwan’s sovereignty, and he noted only Taiwan’s people can decide their future, and keep its peace, prosperity, stability and safety.
“China continues to make military exercises around Taiwan Strait and also create the gray zone, to damage and jeopardize the state ability and keep sending the disinformation and also disrupt democracy,” Lei said. “Right before Xi Jinping and Trump's meeting, the foreign minister of the United States, Japan, and also Korea, they jointly made an announcement that they oppose the unilateral change of Taiwan's status quo and hope to keep the stability of that region.”
He noted there is bipartisan support from the U.S. Congress to support Taiwan’s sovereignty and its democracy. “We will continue to work with the like-minded country to make sure the peace and prosperity of this region,” Lei said.
Before the Trump-Xi summit, seven Democratic Senators signed a statement urging the U.S. president not to let Xi influence policy on Taiwan, weakening defense for Taiwan.
“The People’s Republic of China presents a greater threat to American security and prosperity than ever before,” the statement said, urging Trump to end China’s access to advanced chips and manufacturing equipment, press Beijing to stop supporting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine and confront Xi on supplying resources to Iran.
“The Chinese military continues its pressure campaign against our vital democratic partner Taiwan as President Trump has retreated from longstanding security commitments,” it said.
Lei wants the U.S. to support Taiwan, including partnering on the AI economy, as China is the major rival there.
“The Chinese Communist Party, CCP's long-term strategic goal has been also remained unchanged as well, to see communism prevail over capitalism. No matter what they talk, they are clearly the competitor,” he said of China. “Ultimately, if they absorb Taiwan, the object is continue to shape China's policy and exchange.
"But they provide the foundation for their increasing assertive behavior on global stage. They want to take over everything. For example, in the AI issue, the U.S. is still leading right now, but U.S. companies will talk about humanity, issues and how to control it. But China's right now, they are the largest dominance of CCP, so they don't talk about that.”
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