Donald Trump has suggested the future of Taiwan is “up to” China’s leader Xi Jinping, appearing to defer to Beijing as he sought to distinguish the issue from Washington’s attack on Venezuela.
The U.S. president told the New York Times he would be "very unhappy" if Chinese leader Xi Jinping moved to seize control of the self-governed island through military action.
Trump dismissed any suggestion that the capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro by the American military could be a precedent for China to “reunify” Taiwan with the mainland by force, something Xi has repeatedly threatened to do.
"He considers it to be a part of China, and that's up to him what he's going to be doing," Trump told the newspaper on Wednesday, referring to Xi.
"But I've expressed to him that I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don't think he'll do that. I hope he doesn't do that.”
The president said he did not view the situations as analogous because Taiwan did not pose the same type of threat to China that he had alleged Maduro’s government did to the U.S.
He also repeated his belief that Xi would not make a move against Taiwan during his presidency, which ends in early 2029. He told the Times Xi "may do it after we have a different president but I don't think he's going to do it with me as president".
Beijing last month conducted war games around Taiwan which analysts said blurred the line between routine military training and stage-setting for an attack, a strategy intended to allow the US and its allies minimal warning of an assault.
Trump's latest remarks came a day after China threatened to deliver a “head-on blow” against Taiwan after criticising the American attack on Venezuela.
Geopolitical experts are alarmed by the American attack, saying it will harden Beijing’s view about its options in Taiwan and even allow it to justify the use of military action. The attack emboldened sentiments on social media platforms such as Weibo, where the topic gained some 450 million views.
"I suggest using the same method to reclaim Taiwan in the future," one user posted and received around 1,000 likes, as another questioned Trump's abuse of international law.
The U.S., like most countries, does not have formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, but is bound by law to provide the island with the means to defend itself, and the issue is a frequent irritant in Sino-US relations.
The 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, which governs U.S. relations with the island, doesn’t require the U.S. to step in militarily if China invades, but makes it American policy to ensure Taiwan gets the resources to defend itself.
The Trump administration last month announced $11.1bn in arms sales to Taiwan, the largest-ever weapons package for the island.
The administration said in a strategy document published last year that it aimed to prevent conflict with China over Taiwan and the South China Sea by building up its military power and that of its allies.
Trump has so far largely avoided directly saying how he would respond to a rise in tensions over the island, in keeping with a longstanding U.S. policy known as strategic ambiguity.
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