United States President Donald Trump has claimed that Chinese President Xi Jinping assured him Beijing would not attempt to take any military action against Taiwan while he remains in office.
Trump made the remarks during an interview aired Sunday on CBS’s 60 Minutes, following his first in-person meeting with Xi in six years. The two leaders met Thursday in South Korea, where discussions focused largely on US-China trade relations.
According to Trump, the Taiwan issue “never even came up as a subject” during the meeting. “He has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘We would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” he told CBS.
Asked whether he would order U.S. forces to respond if China moved militarily on Taiwan, Trump declined to give a direct answer. “You’ll find out if it happens, and he understands the answer to that,” he said, adding, “I can’t give away my secrets. The other side knows.”
Strategic ambiguity on Taiwan
Successive U.S. administrations — both Republican and Democratic — have upheld a policy of “strategic ambiguity” on Taiwan, avoiding a clear commitment to military intervention while maintaining support for the island’s defense.
Under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, the U.S. is not legally bound to defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack but is required to provide it with sufficient means to protect itself and to oppose any unilateral attempts by Beijing to alter the island’s status.
Beijing reiterates sovereignty claim
Responding to queries from The Associated Press, Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, did not confirm whether any assurances were given to Trump. However, he reaffirmed China’s firm stance that Taiwan remains an inseparable part of its territory.
“The Taiwan question is China’s internal affair and the core of China’s core interests. How to resolve it is a matter for the Chinese people themselves, and only the Chinese people can decide it,” Liu said in a statement, adding that “China will never allow any person or force to separate Taiwan from China in any way.”
No comment from White House
The White House did not provide details on when Xi or other Chinese officials may have conveyed the assurance Trump referred to.
The CBS interview also marked Trump’s first appearance on 60 Minutes since settling a lawsuit earlier this year against the network over its 2024 election coverage. Trump had accused CBS of editing an interview with then–Vice President Kamala Harris in a way that unfairly favored Democrats. He initially sought $10 billion in damages before later raising the claim to $20 billion.
