West Palm Beach, Florida – president Donald Trump He says so Chinese President Xi Jinping It gave him assurances that Beijing would take no action toward its long-stated goal of unifying Taiwan with mainland China while the Republican leader is in office.
Trump said the long-controversial Taiwan issue had not been raised His talks with Xi on Thursday in South Korea Which focused largely on trade tensions between the United States and China. But the US President expressed his certainty that China would not take action regarding Taiwan while he was in office.
“He said explicitly, and his people said explicitly in meetings: We will never do anything while President Trump is president, because they know the consequences,” Trump said in a speech. Excerpt from the interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” on Sunday.
US officials have long been concerned about the possibility of China using military force against Taiwan, the self-governing democratic island that Beijing claims as part of its territory.
The 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, which governs US relations with the island, does not require the US to intervene militarily if it invades China, but it makes it US policy to ensure Taiwan has the resources to defend itself and prevent any unilateral change in Beijing’s status.
When asked whether he would order US forces to defend Taiwan if China attacked, Trump demurred. The United States, both in Republican and Democratic administrations, has maintained a policy of “strategic ambiguity” regarding Taiwan – trying not to lose sight of whether the United States would come to the island’s aid in such a scenario.
“You’ll find out if that 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 details about when Xi or Chinese officials informed Trump that military action in Taiwan was off the table for the duration of the Republican’s presidency.
60 Minutes interview. It was recorded on Friday at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. This was Trump’s first appearance on the show since then Resolve a lawsuit This summer with CBS News via the newsmagazine interview With Kamala Harris.
The rest of the interview is scheduled to air later on Sunday.