On the 7th, U.S. President Trump said in an exclusive interview with The New York Times that Taiwan is ‘a source of pride’ for Chinese President Xi Jinping, and ‘what he wants to do is up to him’. However, Trump said that if Xi truly takes action, he would be very unhappy. Trump reiterated that he does not believe Xi would take action against Taiwan during his presidency.
According to United Daily News, the reporter asked Trump, assuming he were Chinese President Xi Jinping, and observing the events that have occurred in recent days (referring to U.S. military operations in Venezuela), would he be impressed by the way the special operations were executed. Trump responded: ‘He is indeed impressed by this.’
The reporter then asked Trump, if he were Chinese President Xi Jinping, would he also believe he could use the same logic to launch a decapitation strike against Taiwan and take control? Or, could Russian President Putin use the same reasoning and claim it a threat to seize the rest of Ukraine, and even move further into other former Soviet countries? ‘Have you thus created a precedent that you may later regret?’
To this, Trump answered: ‘No, because this is a real threat. You don’t see large numbers of people flooding into China, nor a massive inflow of drugs into China, nor the other bad things we have experienced. You don’t see Taiwan opening its prisons and people flooding into China. Actually, there aren’t that many people in their prisons, but you don’t see hundreds of thousands coming out of prisons and mental institutions, flooding into China, Taiwan, or Russia.’
The reporter then pressed, suggesting Xi Jinping might say that Taiwan poses a threat to China, and this is an act of separatism. Trump replied: ‘Taiwan is his source of pride. He thinks it is part of China, and what he wants to do is up to him. But I have expressed to him that if he were to do so, I would be very unhappy, and I don't think he will do it. I hope he doesn’t do it.’
When asked if he thought he was setting a precedent for other countries, Trump said: ‘Maybe after there’s a different president in the U.S., he will do it, but I don’t think he’d do it while I’m still president.’