The US Department of State yesterday reaffirmed that US policy on Taiwan has not changed after US President Donald Trump used the word “unification” while commenting on recent trade talks with China.
At a wide-ranging press conference yesterday, Trump spoke about what he believed were the gains made by US trade talks with China in Geneva over the weekend.
“They’ve agreed to open China — fully open China. And I think it’s going to be fantastic for China. I think it's going to be fantastic for us,” Trump said, “I think it’s going to be great for unification and peace.”
Photo: Reuters
Trump’s use of the word “unification,” almost always used in the context of China unifying or annexing Taiwan, raised eyebrows in Taiwan.
The US Department of State said that Trump had not been referring to Taiwan.
“It's clear President Trump was speaking in the context of the US-China trade relationship,” a department spokesperson told CNA yesterday.
Just before using the term “unification” in his remarks yesterday, Trump lamented the falling through of a trade deal with China during his first term that he said “would have brought unity, better unity, between China and the US,” perhaps indicating that he misused the term “unification.”
The department also reiterated that “US policy on Taiwan remains the same.”
“We continue to have an abiding interest in peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” it said, adding that the US “opposes any unilateral changes to the status quo by either side.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded to Trump’s comment by echoing the department’s contention that it was made in a trade context.
“According to our understanding, the Taiwan issue was not touched on during the latest round of US-China trade negotiations,” said ministry spokesperson Hsiao Kuangwei (蕭光偉) during a ministry weekly briefing today.
Trump’s comments followed two days of talks in Switzerland between the world’s two largest economies, during which the two sides agreed to ease their tit-for-tat battle over tariffs.
Under the preliminary agreement, the US would lower tariffs on Chinese imports from 145 percent to 30 percent, while China would reduce levies on US goods from 125 percent to 10 percent.
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