President Donald Trump stated that Chinese President Xi Jinping has provided assurances that Beijing will not take any action toward unifying Taiwan with the mainland while the Republican is in office, according to an excerpt from a “60 Minutes” interview aired Sunday on YouTube.
The long-contentious issue of Taiwan reportedly did not come up in the leaders’ talks on Thursday in South Korea, which were primarily focused on U.S.-China trade tensions. However, President Trump expressed certainty that China would hold off on any action against the self-ruled island democracy during his tenure.
“He has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘We would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the CBS interview excerpt. The full interview with “60 Minutes” was taped on Friday at his Mar-a-Lago resort.
U.S. officials have long been concerned about the potential for China to use military force against Taiwan, which Beijing claims as part of its territory.
The 1979 Taiwan Relations Act governs U.S. relations with the island, ensuring Taiwan has the resources to defend itself and aiming to prevent any unilateral change of status by Beijing. However, the act does not explicitly require the U.S. to intervene militarily if China were to invade.
When asked directly if he would order U.S. forces to defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack, President Trump remained noncommittal, adhering to the long-standing U.S. policy of “strategic ambiguity.”
“You’ll find out if it happens, and he understands the answer to that,” Trump said regarding President Xi.
The White House has not yet provided further details on when or how Xi or other Chinese officials conveyed this commitment to President Trump.
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