US President Donald Trump yesterday said he expects to reach a fair trade deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and downplayed risks of a clash over the issue of Taiwan, even as his top trade negotiator accused Beijing of engaging in "economic coercion."
Trump suggested to reporters that China had no designs on invading Taiwan, but acknowledged that he expected the issue to be on the agenda at a planned meeting with Xi on the sidelines of an economic conference in South Korea next week.
Trade tensions between the US and China have lingered. Disputes over tariffs, technology and market access remain unresolved days before the meeting.
Photo: Reuters
Trump spoke at the start of a meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese where the two signed a critical minerals agreement aimed at countering China.
Trump pledged to accelerate deliveries of nuclear submarines to Australia and was asked if US actions in the waters of the Indo-Pacific region were a sufficient deterrent to keep Xi from invading Taiwan.
"China doesn't want to do that," Trump said, before boasting about the size and strength of the US military.
He added: "We have the best of everything and nobody is going to mess with that ... I think we'll end up with a very strong trade deal. Both of us will be happy."
However, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer took a tougher line later in the day, warning that the US would respond with unspecified action to what he called a "broader pattern of economic coercion" by Beijing against firms that make strategic investments in critical US industries.
Officials in South Korea said last week that China's sanctions on US-linked units of shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean threatened to impact ambitious plans for shipbuilding cooperation between Seoul and Washington.
"Attempts at intimidation will not stop the United States from rebuilding its shipbuilding base and responding appropriately to China's targeting of critical industrial sectors for dominance," Greer said in a statement.
Asked by a reporter whether the US might adjust its position on Taiwan independence to reach a trade deal with China, Trump said: "We're going to be talking about a lot of things. I assume that will be one of them, but I’m not going to talk about it now."
Speaking in Taipei, Wang Liang-yu (王良玉), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' North American Affairs Department, said that Taiwan-US communication is "quite smooth," and that since Trump took office, the US has repeatedly reiterated its support for Taiwan.
"The foreign ministry will continue to closely pay attention to relevant developments and will maintain communication with the US side to ensure Taiwan-US relations continue to deepen in a stable way and that our interests can really be guaranteed," she added.
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