US President Donald Trump on Friday said that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) told him China would not invade Taiwan while Trump is in office.
Trump made the remarks in an interview with Fox News, ahead of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
“I will tell you, you know, you have a very similar thing with President Xi of China and Taiwan, but I don’t believe there’s any way it’s going to happen as long as I’m here. We’ll see,” Trump said during an interview on Fox News’ Special Report.
“He told me: ‘I will never do it as long as you’re president.’ President Xi told me that, and I said: ‘Well, I appreciate that,’ but he also said: ‘But I am very patient, and China is very patient,’” Trump said.
Trump and Xi held their first confirmed call of Trump’s second presidential term in June.
In Taipei, Taiwanese academics said Trump’s remarks might reflect the “performative” nature of his diplomacy, which is often preoccupied with projecting an image of personal strength.
Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said Xi was more likely to have made a vague comment rather than a formal pledge, if he made any promise at all.
Shen added that Beijing’s promises of peace are meaningless, as China would not hesitate to tear up any agreement if it decided to seize Taiwan by force.
Taiwan must continue to closely monitor China’s military capabilities and strategic conditions to assess the likelihood of an invasion, he said.
Prospect Foundation deputy executive director Song Cheng-en (宋承恩) said that Trump had avoided mentioning Taiwan in the past, typically limiting his remarks to his cordial personal relations with Xi or trade cooperation with China.
This was the first time that he mentioned Taiwan in a positive manner, showing he is cognizant of the importance of peace across the Taiwan Strait, Song said.
If Trump’s account is accurate, it suggests Washington and Beijing have candidly discussed the possibility of a Chinese military assault on Taiwan, he added.
Xi’s reported comment that he had “patience” highlighted that he did not deny intentions to invade Taiwan, but is simply biding his time, he said.
This is a dangerous signal, as it reveals that China is no longer concealing its ambitions and that Washington is fully aware of this trajectory, he added.
Taiwan cannot afford to lower its guard simply because of Trump’s “guarantee,” Song said.
The nation must continue to strengthen its self-defense capabilities to ensure Beijing understands that any rash action would come at a high cost, which would help prevent Taiwan from being reduced to a bargaining chip between major powers, he said.
The Chinese embassy in Washington on Friday described the topic of Taiwan as “the most important and sensitive issue” in China-US relations, adding the US government should adhere to the “one China” principle and the three US-China joint communiques.
While the US is a top military equipment supplier to Taipei, the US has traditionally avoided making an explicit security guarantee, instead maintaining a policy of strategic ambiguity.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
SILENCING CRITICS: In addition to blocking Taiwan, China aimed to prevent rights activists from speaking out against authoritarian states, a Cabinet department said The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday condemned transnational repression by Beijing after RightsCon, a major digital human rights conference scheduled to be held in Zambia this week, was abruptly canceled due to Chinese pressure over Taiwanese participation. This year’s RightsCon, the world’s largest conference discussing issues “at the intersection of human rights and technology,” was scheduled to take place from tomorrow to Friday in Lusaka, and expected to draw 2,600 in-person attendees from 150 countries, along with 1,100 online participants. However, organizers were forced to cancel the event due to behind-the-scenes pressure from China, the ministry said, expressing its “strongest condemnation”
Taiwan’s economy grew far faster than expected in the first quarter, as booming demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications drove a surge in exports, spilling over into investment and consumption, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. GDP growth was 13.69 percent year-on-year during the January-to-March period, beating the DGBAS’ February forecast by 2.23 percentage points and marking the most robust growth in nearly four decades, DGBAS senior official Chiang Hsin-yi (江心怡) told a news conference in Taipei. The result was powered by exports, which remain the backbone of Taiwan’s economy, Chiang said. Outbound shipments jumped 51.12 percent year-on-year to
DELAYED BUT DETERMINED: The president’s visit highlights Taiwan’s right to international engagement amid regional pressure from China President Willaim Lai (賴清德) yesterday arrived in Eswatini, more than a week after his planned visit to Taiwan’s sole African ally was suspended because of revoked overflight permits. “The visit, originally scheduled for April 22, was postponed due to unforeseen external factors,” Lai wrote on social media. “After several days of careful arrangements by our diplomatic and national security teams, we successfully arrived today.” Lai said he looked forward to further deepening Taiwan-Eswatini relations through closer cooperation in the economy, agriculture, culture and education, as well as advancing the nation’s international partnerships. The president was initially scheduled to arrive in time to celebrate
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) yesterday said the US faced a choice between an “impossible” military operation or a “bad deal” with Tehran, after US President Donald Trump disparaged Iran’s latest peace proposal. Negotiations between the two countries have been deadlocked since a ceasefire came into effect on April 8, with only one round of direct peace talks held so far. Iran’s Tasnim and Fars news agencies reported that Tehran had submitted a 14-point proposal to mediator Pakistan, but Trump was quick to cast doubt on it. “I will soon be reviewing the plan that Iran has just sent to us, but
RSS