During President Trump's visit to Beijing, China sought concessions on Taiwan arms sales, urging a reduction in package size and pace. This occurred alongside the announcement of significant trade deals.

When US President Donald Trump returned from Beijing earlier this month, he hailed his visit as a historic breakthrough, trumpeting the “fantastic trade deals” he sealed and boasting about his close ties with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. But on the margins, Beijing had sought to extract a price by pushing Washington for concessions on Taiwan. According to people familiar with the matter, Beijing pressed Washington to reduce the size of the arms packages sold to Taiwan and slow the pace of...