As President Trump prepares for his trip this week to Beijing to meet with China’s leader Xi Jinping, U.S. Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) addressed U.S. competition with China at an event hosted by the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.
[NOTE: Trump has invited several CEOs of American companies to join him in China, including billionaires Elon Musk (Tesla), Tim Cook (Apple), and Larry Fink (BlackRock), among others.]
As seen below, Shaheen reminded the Brookings Institution audience that the Trump administration has been holding up a $14 billion weapons package to Taiwan, which was approved by Congress in January.
There is concern among the lawmakers and other observers that Trump is willing to make concessions to Xi over Taiwan’s defense, despite China’s repeated threats to take the democratic island nation by force. A 2026 U.S. intelligence threat assessment report, while acknowledging the threat, did not predict an imminent Chinese invasion of Taiwan.
The report said: “China, despite its threat to use force to compel unification if necessary and to counter what it sees as a U.S. attempt to use Taiwan to undermine China’s rise, prefers to achieve unification without the use of force, if possible.” The report — issued in March after the U.S. attacked Iran, an action the Chinese criticized — concluded that “Chinese leaders do not currently plan to execute an invasion of Taiwan in 2027, nor do they have a fixed timeline for achieving unification.”
SEN. SHAHEEN: What we are hearing from our sources is the President does not want to notice the arms sale to Taiwan before he goes to China. Well, what better time to notice it?
Because that sends a very strong message that China should keep its mitts off Taiwan. pic.twitter.com/46xd5n8x59
— Senate Foreign Relations Committee (@SFRCdems) May 11, 2026
Shaheen said: “What we are hearing from our sources is that the President does not want to notice that arms sale before he goes to China. Well, what better time to notice it, than when he’s going to China? Because that sends a very strong message that we’re going to be there and China should keep its mitts off Taiwan.”
Shaheen and Tillis both signed a letter to Trump on Friday which noted: “American support for Taiwan is not up for negotiation.”
The other six Senators who signed the letter are: Democrats Chris Coons (DE), Tammy Duckworth (IL), Andy Kim (NJ), Jacky Rosen (NV), Elissa Slotkin (MI), and Republican John Curtis (UT).