Trump calls pending arm sale to Taiwan "good negotiating chip" Alayna Treene By Alayna Treene President Donald Trump said the pending $14 billion deal to sell arms to Taiwan is a “very good negotiating chip.”
“I haven’t approved it yet. We’re going to see what happens,” Trump told Fox News’ Bret Baier in an interview taped in Beijing that is airing Friday.
“I’m holding that in abeyance, and it depends on China. It depends. It is a very good negotiating chip for us, frankly. It’s a lot of weapons.”
“You know, when you look at the odds, China is a very, very powerful, big country. That’s a very small island. Think of it, it’s 59 miles away. 59 miles. We’re 9,500 miles away. That’s a little bit of a difficult problem,” the president added.
“I do say this: Taiwan would be very smart to cool it a little bit. China would be very smart to cool it a little bit. They ought to both cool it.”
Trump says he'd like to see China-Taiwan "stay the way it is" Kit Maher By Kit Maher President Donald Trump said he’d like to see things in China and Taiwan stay the same, telling Fox News that discussion around the island was a chief concern for Chinese President Xi Jinping during the summit in Beijing.
“I’d like to see it stay the way it is,” Trump said in an interview airing Friday evening.
Calling it the “most important” issue for Xi, Trump said, “We talked the whole night about that issue. I think I know more about Taiwan right now than I know about almost any country.”
Trump also speculated that China will not attack the island during the remainder of his term, though he suspects it could happen after he leaves office.
“I don’t think they’ll do anything when I’m here. When I’m not here, I think they might, to be honest with you,” Trump said. “I’m not sure that they’ll do anything if it remained as is.”
Trump tip-toed over what to call Taiwan during the interview: “We will call it a place, because nobody knows how to define it – but they don’t want to see it go independent.”
Asked whether the Taiwanese people should feel more or less secure after the summit with Xi, Trump said, “Neutral.”
Some context: Under the “One China” policy, the US acknowledges China’s position that Taiwan is part of China but has never officially recognized the Communist Party’s claim to the island. Washington maintains robust unofficial relations with Taiwan and is bound by law (under the Taiwan Relations Act) to provide Taiwan with defensive weapons, but has remained intentionally ambiguous on whether it would intervene militarily in the event of a Chinese attack — a policy known as “strategic ambiguity.”
Trump demurs on providing arms to Taiwan but asserts "nothing has changed" on US posture
President Donald Trump said “we will see what happens” when asked if he would approve an arms package to Taiwan, adding that he was not looking “to travel 9,500 miles to fight a war.”
However, he also said “nothing has changed” about the United States’ posture toward Taiwan after this week’s summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“I will say this: I’m not looking for somebody to go independent, and we’re supposed to travel 9,500 miles to fight a war. I’m not looking for that. I want them to cool down. I want China to cool down,” Trump told Bret Baier in a Fox News interview set to air Friday evening.
On the arms package, Trump said in the interview, taped earlier this week: “I have not approved it yet. We will see what happens.”
On Air Force One earlier, Trump said he discussed the potential $14 billion arms sale to Taiwan with Xi in “great detail,” similarly adding that fighting a war 9,500 miles away is not in the best interest of the United States.
Under the longstanding “One China” policy, the US acknowledges China’s position that Taiwan is part of China but has never officially recognized the Communist Party’s claim to the self-governing island.
Washington maintains robust unofficial relations with Taiwan and has sold billions of dollars in advanced weapons to the island, with bipartisan approval, but has remained intentionally ambiguous on whether it would intervene militarily in the event of a Chinese attack.