Trump says Xi assured him China won’t take action on Taiwan

While the Republican leader is in office, Donald Trump has stated that Xi Jinping, the president of China, has assured him that Beijing will not attempt to unify Taiwan with mainland China.

When he and Xi met in South Korea on Thursday for their first face-to-face meeting in six years, Trump claimed on Sunday that the contentious Taiwan issue “never even came up as a topic.” The meeting primarily focused on trade tensions between the US and China.

Trump declined when asked on CBS’ “60 Minutes” program whether he would direct US forces to take action if China launched a military assault on Taiwan.

Under both Republican and Democratic administrations, the US has continued to pursue a “strategic ambiguity” policy on Taiwan, attempting to avoid having any influence over whether the US would support the island in such a situation.

Trump, speaking in reference to Xi, said, “You’ll find out if it happens, and he understands the solution.”

Trump, however, said in an interview held on Friday at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, “I can’t give away my secrets. The opposing party is aware.

The US president claimed that Xi and those close to him “openly stated” that they “know the consequences” and that Xi and others close to him “openly said” that they “would never do anything while President Trump is president.”

Taiwan, a self-governing island democracy that Beijing claims to be a part of its own territory, has long piqued the attention of US officials.

The US-led invasion of Taiwan is governed by the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, which establishes US policy to ensure Taiwan has the resources to defend itself and prevent Beijing from changing its mind about its status unilaterally.

The Associated Press’s Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington, did not immediately respond to a question from The Associated Press. Xi or Chinese officials have said anything about Taiwan. In a statement, he claimed that China “will never permit any person or force to break up Taiwan with China in any way.”

The Taiwan issue is at the center of China’s core interests, according to the statement. The Chinese people alone have the power to decide the Taiwan question, the statement continued.

Additionally, the White House declined to provide more information about when Xi or Chinese officials told Trump that military action against Taiwan was on hold for the duration of the Republican’s presidency.