West Palm Beach, Florida – President Donald Trump says that Chinese President Xi Jinping gave him assurances that Beijing would take no action to achieve its long-stated goal of uniting Taiwan with mainland China while the Republican leader was in power.
Trump said the controversial issue of Taiwan has not been raised for a long time his talks with Xi Jinping on Thursday in South Korea this was mainly focused on trade tensions between the US and China. But the US leader expressed confidence that China will not take any action against Taiwan while it is in power.
“He has said openly, and his people have said openly in meetings, 'We will never do anything as long as President Trump is president,' because they know the consequences,” Trump said in a statement. excerpt from interview with CBS' “60 Minutes” airing Sunday.
U.S. officials have long been concerned about the possibility of China using military force against Taiwan, the self-governing island democracy that Beijing claims as part of its territory.
The Taiwan Relations Act of 1979, which governs U.S. relations with the island, does not require U.S. military intervention in the event of a Chinese invasion, but makes it American policy to ensure that Taiwan has the resources to defend itself and prevent any unilateral change in status by Beijing.
Asked whether he would order U.S. troops to defend Taiwan if China attacked, Trump demurred. The United States, both Republican and Democratic administrations, have pursued a policy of “strategic ambiguity” regarding Taiwan, trying not to risk whether the US would come to the island's aid in such a scenario.
“You'll know if it happens, and he understands the answer to that,” Trump said of Xi.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The White House also did not provide further information about when Xi Jinping or Chinese officials told Trump that military action in Taiwan was off the table for the duration of the Republican presidency.
60 Minutes interview. was recorded Friday at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. This was Trump's first appearance on the show since he settled the claim this summer with CBS News in the newsmagazine interview with Kamala Harris.
The rest of the interview will air later on Sunday.
