US President Donald Trump is likely to focus on trade and economic matters during his expected meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) next week, although the Taiwan issue is also likely to be raised by Beijing, a former senior Pentagon official said yesterday.
Randall Schriver, who served as assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs during Trump's first term, told reporters on the sidelines of a forum in Washington that Trump would want to build on a temporary trade truce that was reached with Xi during their meeting last year in Busan, South Korea.
"My understanding is that President Trump would like to focus on economic and trade issues," said Schriver, who is chairman of the board at the Institute for Indo-Pacific Security.
Photo: Reuters
Trump would be hoping to establish a more durable framework covering issues such as Chinese rare earth exports and tariffs, he said.
Trump is expected to visit Beijing on Thursday and Friday next week for talks with Xi, which US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said would include Taiwan.
During a recent call with Rubio, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said that Taiwan was "the biggest risk" in US-China relations, Chinese media reported.
Schriver said that he thinks Trump would be prepared to address the issue while maintaining Washington's longstanding policy.
"I have confidence that President Trump will not just represent Taiwan, but really represent US-Taiwan interests, which are in most cases shared interests," he said.
At the forum in Washington yesterday, Ely Ratner, also a former assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs, said that China's "gray zone" activities around Taiwan could pose growing risks in the short to medium term.
Beijing has sought to convince Taiwanese and US audiences that conflict and eventual unification are inevitable, Ratner said.
Taiwan and the US should prepare for scenarios such as blockades, interceptions and other unconventional coercive actions that could trigger a crisis, he said.
However, deterrence can be maintained through stronger military capabilities, alliances and resilience, Ratner added.
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