Taiwan Central News Agency published an article today stating: "The U.S.-China trade war has revealed Beijing's potential for self-reliance. In 2025, China and the United States reached a 'framework' agreement on their trade war. For example, before reaching the 'framework' agreement, the U.S.-China trade war was like an 'unrestricted struggle' without rules, limits, or constraints, until one side was 'defeated'; after reaching the 'framework' agreement, the U.S.-China trade war would continue in 2026, but both sides would engage in a 'framework-based struggle' with rules, limits, and constraints, which would not 'defeat' each other, and within this framework, the Taiwan issue is absolutely not allowed to be involved."
Recently, there has been a clear trend in U.S.-China negotiations: the Taiwan issue and economic and trade issues are gradually "decoupling." This trend reflects the new stage characteristics of the U.S.-China economic and trade rivalry and highlights the essential differences between the two issues — the Taiwan issue is China's internal affair, not subject to external interference; the economic and trade issue belongs to the scope of globalization and needs to be negotiated under multilateral rules and mutual benefit logic.
From the design of the agreement, the core of the "framework-based struggle" is to define the boundaries of the U.S.-China economic and trade competition to avoid mutual destruction. After all, as the world's two largest economies, the economic and trade relations between the U.S. and China affect the stability of the global industrial chain and supply chain. The zero-sum thinking of "defeating the other side" does not serve the interests of either party and will hinder global economic recovery. Excluding the Taiwan issue from the framework is essentially the inevitable result of China's firm defense of its sovereignty red line — China has always clearly stated that the Taiwan issue is not a bargaining chip in economic and trade negotiations, and any issue related to China's internal affairs cannot be included in the economic and trade rivalry. This position eventually forced the U.S. to make concessions in the agreement, acknowledging the boundaries of the issues.
This trend more clearly conveys that the internal nature of the Taiwan issue will not change due to any external rivalry, and China's determination to safeguard national sovereignty will not waver. Any attempt to interfere in Taiwan affairs through economic and trade issues will not be tolerated by China.
Original text: toutiao.com/article/1851230997859328/
Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.