Washington and Beijing are holding talks without solving anything, which former Trump China adviser Miles Yu sees as good news for Taiwan.

• After the Trump-Xi White House meeting, two more summits are expected before year-end, but the core disputes on tariffs and regional security remain stuck.
• Yu, now head of the China Center at the Hudson Institute, says the summits themselves prove the problems are too deep to fix, and both sides are mainly buying time to build strength.
• With the two powers unable to align, Taiwan gains room to tie itself closer to the US — on trade, and above all on defense.
• Washington extended the trade truce with Beijing by two months before the leaders met, showing neither side wants to give up its best leverage: China's grip on critical minerals, America's network of allies.
• Taipei and Washington name the same main threat, so the argument is for shared defense: protecting Taiwan is treated as protecting US security itself.

Outlook: Expect more US-Taiwan security and trade integration while the US-China relationship stays frozen in managed calm rather than real agreement.