WASHINGTON, D.C.: Taiwan arms sales are expected to be a key point of contention when Chinese President Xi Jinping meets U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington this week, with Beijing likely to push for an end to weapons sales and deliveries to the island, according to three sources familiar with discussions ahead of the summit.

The sources said China is likely to raise its interpretation of a 1982 joint statement between the two countries under which the United States said it intended to gradually reduce arms sales to Taiwan and did not seek long-term weapons sales to Taipei.

China regards Taiwan as its territory and has repeatedly called on Washington to stop selling weapons to the island. Taiwan rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims.

The United States is required by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself despite having no formal diplomatic relations with Taipei.

An accompanying memo issued by then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan in 1982 said Washington's willingness to reduce weapons sales was "conditioned absolutely upon the continued commitment of China to the peaceful solution" of differences with Taiwan.

China has increased military activity around Taiwan over the past five years, including war games involving live missile tests, while its armed forces operate around the island almost daily.

China's foreign ministry said Beijing "resolutely opposes" U.S. arms sales to Taiwan and described adherence to the three communiques and previous U.S. commitments on Taiwan as a "necessary precondition" for stable and healthy relations.

Xi is due to arrive in Washington on September 23, with formal talks scheduled for the next day and a visit to the U.S. National Archives on September 25.

A White House official said Trump has said he will make a determination on a new arms sales package in a fairly short time.

The Trump administration approved an arms package worth US$11 billion for Taiwan in December, the largest ever. A second package worth about $14 billion has remained on hold for months. Following his May summit with Xi in Beijing, Trump said he was keeping it in abeyance and called it a "very good negotiating chip".

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said Beijing has also asked Washington to stop delivering weapons that Taiwan has already ordered.

Xi could "emphasize to Trump that Taiwan is the provocateur and the sole source of instability in US-China relations, and that Taiwan is the one changing the status quo," one source said.

In return, China is offering to help put pressure on Iran over the war in the Middle East, the sources said.

Under its "one China policy," the United States officially takes no position on Taiwan's sovereignty and acknowledges, but does not endorse, Beijing's position that Taiwan is part of China.

The U.S. "Six Assurances" to Taiwan, also issued in 1982 but declassified in 2020, state that Washington has not set a date for ending arms sales to Taiwan or agreed to consult Beijing in advance about such sales.