President Donald Trump said Friday he refused to respond directly to the Chinese president Xi Jinping when asked if the United States would defend Taiwan if China attacked him.
“I was asked that question today,” Trump told reporters. Air Force One as they returned to the United States from a two-day summit in Beijing.
“This question was asked to me today by President Xi. I said I’m not talking about it,” the president said.
Read more about CNBC’s politics coverageTrump’s decision not to respond is consistent with America’s longstanding one-China policy, which leaves undefined the status of Taiwan, an island that Beijing claims as its own.
The “strategic ambiguity” approach leaves open the question of whether Washington would come to Taipei’s aid in the event of a Chinese attack.
But since the United States began its war against Iran in late February, analysts have expressed concerns that China is in a stronger position to attack Taiwan because of the movement of U.S. Navy aircraft carriers from the Indo-Pacific region to the Middle East and the depletion of U.S. munitions following their use against Iran.
“The war in Iran has once again exposed the deficiencies of America’s defense industrial base. If the United States does not act quickly this time, it may have to learn that lesson – the hard way – against China in the Indo-Pacific,” wrote Seth G. Jones, chairman of the Department of Defense and Security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, in an analysis published earlier this week.
Trump’s comments Friday came in response to a reporter who asked whether the United States would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack.
“I don’t mean that,” Trump responded.
“There is only one person who knows. You know who it is? Me. I’m the only person,” he said, before noting that Xi had asked him the same question earlier.
At the same time, his response to whether a pending arms sales program for Taiwan had been discussed raised questions.
“In fact, we have discussed everything related to arms sales in great detail and I will be the one to make a decision,” he said. “But, you know, I think the last thing we need right now is a war 9,500 miles away.”
Chinese state media, which welcomed Trump’s praise of the Chinese leader, made no mention of Trump and his administration’s conversations on Taiwan, which analysts say likely means the Chinese side did not like what was said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an interview with NBC News that the issue had been raised, but that “US policy on the Taiwan issue is unchanged to this day.”
The Taiwan issue took center stage on the first day of the two-day summit after President Xi delivered a surprisingly tough message on Taiwan despite positive preliminaries on establishing stable relations and preventing conflict.
At the start of the summit, Xi clearly warned Trump that the United States and China would “experience clashes and even conflicts” if the long-standing issue of Taiwan’s independence was mishandled.
Xi told his US counterpart that this could put “the entire relationship” between their two nations “at great risk” if the issue was not “properly” handled, according to Chinese state media. Xinhua reported THURSDAY.
Xi told Trump that “the Taiwan issue” is “the most important issue in China-US relations”, Xinhua reported.
As the summit approached, Beijing was expected to pressure Trump to change the US language in his approach from “does not support” Taiwan independence to “opposes” Taiwan independence.
The changed words would be more of a statement on Taiwan’s status, making it more in line with Beijing’s view and sending a message about U.S. security commitments in the region.
Taiwanese expert Bonnie Glaser, who co-wrote an article in the journal this month Foreign Affairstitled “Why China is waiting: Beijing is playing a long game against Taiwan,” told CNBC that there were good reasons for Xi to delay an attack on Taiwan.
“The question is what the likely costs would be to China even if it managed to pull off a successful military takeover,” Glaser said.
“The costs would be prohibitive. There is no certainty of success. And the costs of failure are very high – including the threat to the CCP. [Chinese Communist Party] “Legitimacy,” Glaser said. “Massive purges within the PLA [People’s Liberation Army] suggests that Xi is not prepared to use force in the near future. »
“The PLA’s readiness has likely been significantly affected by the purges,” she said.
