US President Donald Trump voiced confidence on Monday (Oct 20) that China would not invade Taiwan, saying he expected to maintain good relations with Chinese President Xi Jinping and to seal a trade deal later this month.
“I think we’ll be just fine with China. China doesn’t want to do that,” Trump told reporters as he met Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the White House, referring to fears of a Chinese attack on Taiwan.
“Now that doesn’t mean it’s not the apple of his eye, because probably it is, but I don’t see anything happening,” Trump added.
Without explicitly committing to defend Taiwan militarily, Trump said Beijing understood that the United States remained “the strongest military power in the world by far.”
“We have the best of everything, and nobody’s going to mess with that,” he said. “I think we’re going to get along very well as it pertains to Taiwan and others.”
PLANS CHINA VISIT EARLY NEXT YEAR
Trump also said he had been invited to visit China early next year and expected to finalise a trade deal with Xi when the two leaders meet later this month in South Korea.
“I’ve been invited to go to China, and I’ll be doing that sometime fairly early next year. We have it sort of set,” Trump said.
The meeting in South Korea will be the first between Trump and Xi since the start of Trump’s second term and comes amid renewed friction over tariffs and export controls.
Trump said his priority was achieving a “fair” trade deal with Beijing but declined to say whether that would affect US support for Taiwan.
“I want to be good to China. I love my relationship with President Xi. We have a great relationship,” he said.
LONG-STANDING TENSIONS OVER TAIWAN
The United States recognizes only Beijing and not Taipei, where Chinese nationalists fled in 1949 after losing the civil war to the communists. Taiwan has since developed into a vibrant democracy and major technology hub.
Under US law, Washington is required to supply Taiwan with weapons for self-defence but remains deliberately ambiguous on whether it would use force to defend the island.
Source: AFP
- Agencies
