Taiwan presses case for US arms deal

Available for 29 days

Anxiety is growing in Taiwan over US arms sales to the country after President Donald Trump said he had not decided whether to proceed with a weapons deal following a summit in Beijing with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. Senior research fellow on China at Chatham House and Weekend panelist Yu Jie unpacks the weeks events. Also in today’s programme: the future of Prime Minister Kier Starmer’s premiership after a turbulent week in the British parliament; and we’ll hear from Lebanon, where Israeli airstrikes continue to strike the country despite the extension of the ceasefire on Friday. Presenter Julian Worricker is joined by Yu Jie, a senior research fellow on China at Chatham House in London, and Soumaya Keynes, a columnist on economics for the Financial Times newspaper and co-author of a new book, How to Win a Trade War: A Friendly Guide to an Unfriendly World. Photo: An F-16 fighter jet takes off during an annual military exercise ahead of Lunar New Year in Chiayi, Taiwan January 28, 2026. (Credit: Reuters/Ann Wang)