President Donald Trump is putting Taiwan and China on notice, warning Taipei not to expect a blank check for American military backing if it triggers a war.
In a sit-down interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier airing tonight on “Special Report” at 6 p.m. ET, Trump detailed his face-to-face negotiations with Chinese President Xi Jinping and what they could mean for global security.
“Should the people of Taiwan feel more or less secure after your meetings with President Xi?” Baier asked the president directly.
“Neutral. This has been going on for years,” Trump answered, noting that U.S. policy regarding Taiwan has not changed.
“Nothing’s changed. I will say this: I’m not looking to have somebody go independent. And, you know, 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.”
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Xi issued his own warnings about Taiwan, cautioning there could be future “clashes and even conflicts” with the U.S. over the island, according to Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning.
Trump declined to commit to whether he’d sign off on the long-delayed $14 billion U.S. arms package for Taiwan. While lawmakers pre-approved the package last year, the White House has not moved it forward.
When pressed about the arms package, Trump kept his options open.
“I may do it. I may not do it,” he told Baier. “We’re not looking to have wars. If you kept it the way it is, I think China is [going to] be OK with that. But we’re not looking to have somebody say, ‘Let’s go independent because the United States is backing us.’”
China has claimed Taiwan as its own territory and opposed U.S. involvement in its affairs, including through weapons sales. The U.S. does not formally recognize Beijing’s claim over Taiwan but has unofficially supported the island through defense assistance.
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Trump later gave an update on the conflict with Iran, denying that his administration underestimated the difficulty of the mission and saying the U.S. is currently choosing not to escalate further.
“I didn’t underestimate anything. We hit them unbelievably hard,” Trump said. “Look, we left their bridges. We left their electricity capacity. We can knock that all out in two days. Two days.”
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“Vietnam lasted 19 years. Iraq was like 10 years. Korea was seven years. Another one was 14 years. Another one was 12 years. Another one was nine years. We’re in there [Iran] for two and a half months,” the president said.
He also addressed the potential for political prisoner Jimmy Lai, along with two other detainees, to be released from China. Lai is a Hong Kong media mogul and Catholic imprisoned for criticizing the Chinese government. Trump confirmed he asked Xi to consider releasing Lai.
“It’s under consideration. I will say that I brought up Jimmy Lai, and I would say the response to that was not positive,” Trump said, noting he was not optimistic.
“He went through a whole thing and I said, ‘Well, we’d appreciate if you would release him. He’s gotten old, and he’s probably not feeling too well. It would be nice.’ And I did not feel optimistic. I have to be honest with you about that one. I did, I did feel optimistic about the second one that’s now under consideration,” Trump said.
