President Donald Trump managed to dodge questions about tensions between China and Taiwan in a high-stakes interview set to air Sunday night.
In a one-minute snippet of the interview that will show in its entirety on Sunday night, Face the Nation asked Trump about his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday.
“One potential flashpoint with China — and probably the potential flash point with China in the coming years — is over the issue of Taiwan,” O’Donnell said. “The Chinese military is encroaching on Taiwan’s sea lanes, its airspace, its cyberspace. I know you have said that Xi Jinping wouldn’t dare move militarily on Taiwan while you’re in office. But what if he does? Would you order U.S. Forces to defend Taiwan?”
“You’ll find out if it happens,” Trump replied, coyly. “And he understands the answer to that. This never even came up yesterday as a subject. He never brought it up. People were a little surprised that he never brought it up because he understands it. And he understands it very well.”
O’Donnell gently probed Trump on his response.
“Do you mind if I ask, when you say he understands, why not communicate that publicly to the rest of us?” O’Donnell replied. “What does he understand? What does he understand?”
“I can’t give away my secrets,” Trump shot back. “I don’t want to be one of these guys that tells you exactly what’s going to happen if something happens. The other side knows, but I’m not somebody that tells everything because you’re asking me a question, but they understand what’s gonna happen. And 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.”
The interview will undoubtedly be studied and examined attentively by media industry experts on Sunday night. It is Trump’s first meeting with CBS since his $16 million settlement with the network over a 2024 60 Minutes interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris.
On Sunday, Trump says that Chinese President Xi Jinping has given him assurances that Beijing would take no action toward its long-stated goal of unifying Taiwan with mainland China while the Republican leader is in office.
Trump said that the long-contentious issue of Taiwan did not come up in his talks with Xi on Thursday in South Korea that largely focused on U.S.-China trade tensions. But the U.S. leader expressed certainty that China would not take action on Taiwan, while he’s in office.
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“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,” Trump said in an excerpt of an interview with the CBS’ program “60 Minutes” that aired Sunday.
U.S. officials have long been concerned about the possibility of China using military force against Taiwan, the self-ruled island democracy claimed by Beijing as part of its territory.
The 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, which has governed U.S. relations with the island, does not require the U.S. to step in militarily if China invades but makes it American policy to ensure Taiwan has the resources to defend itself and to prevent any unilateral change of status by Beijing.
Asked if he would order U.S. forces to defend Taiwan if China attacked, Trump demurred. The United States, both Republican and Democratic administrations, have maintained a policy of “strategic ambiguity” on Taiwan — trying not to tip their hands on whether the U.S. would come to the island’s aid in such a scenario.
