On Sunday, Alexander Yui, Taiwan’s representative to the U.S., said Taipei encourages the Trump administration to deliver on future arms sales after President Trump said he would hold off on a $14 billion arms sale to create leverage in talks with China.

Beijing has never formally recognized Taiwan’s sovereignty, and Taiwan has long argued that it needs U.S. arms to maintain its independence.

“President Trump has also been very clear in saying that he did not agree on anything …” Yui said during a Sunday appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” referring to talks with China. “So, again, the United States government has been consistent throughout all administrations since 1979 in providing arms to Taiwan, according to a Taiwan Relations Act, which is selling ours commensurate to the threat that Taiwan receives.”

Yui touted Trump’s decision in his first term to make a “considerable” amount of sales to Taiwan, including the F-16 Block 70s.

“And also in his second administration last year, he made two sales to Taiwan. Also, again, the last one also very considerable amount of money on arms sales,” Yui said to host Margaret Brennan.

“So, we believe again that having arms sales continue to Taiwan is in the interest of the United States and Taiwan, to keep peaceful and stable Taiwan Straits,” he added.

The U.S. has long observed the Six Assurances, a set of six nonbinding U.S. policy principles implemented in 1982 during the Reagan administration.

The second assurance holds that the U.S. will not consult China on arms sales to Taiwan.

On Sunday, Yui said the Six Assurances were not violated during the president’s talks about the country with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

However, House Democrats have argued the arms sale delay undercuts the “maintenance of effective cross-Strait deterrence” and signals the possibility of China “unduly influencing” U.S. foreign policy on Taiwan.

Trump told Fox News the delay in arms sales is a “very good negotiating chip” as he seeks to gain support from Beijing to end the Iran war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Yet Yui said the circumstances could lead to a greater conflict between China and Taiwan.

“If we want to prevent a war from happening, I think it’s best that Taiwan is strong, able to defend itself, and therefore we should be able to acquire — to buy the arms that we need to have a stronger defense, you know,” he told Brennan.

“We also abide, we believe in peace through strength, so actually it makes more sense for the United States to sell us the arms, so we can defend ourselves, and so you don’t have to send your army 9,500 miles away to defend us,” he added.

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