Taiwan presses case for US arms deal

Available for 6 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)