Following U.S. President Donald Trump’s remarks on Aug. 15 (Friday) that his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping had promised his country would not invade Taiwan during Trump’s presidency, Beijing’s foreign ministry repeated its official stance that Taiwan belongs to Communist China.
Speaking to Fox News, Trump said that the Chinese leader “told me, ‘I will never do it as long as you’re president.’ President Xi told me that, and I said, ‘Well, I appreciate that.'”
However, Xi also said that he was “‘very patient, and China is very patient.’,” Trump continued. He did not elaborate on when the conversation took place.
“The Taiwan issue is purely an internal affair of China, and how to resolve the Taiwan issue is a matter for the Chinese people,” said Mao Ning, spokeswoman for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) foreign ministry, on Monday, Aug. 18.
Taiwan, an island of around 23 million lying 100 miles from the southeast Chinese coast, is governed as the Republic of China (ROC), which fought and lost a civil war on mainland China with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the late 1940s.
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Though essentially an independent country and a significant economic power, the ROC is not a member of the United Nations, having been ousted in favor of Communist China in the 1970s, and few countries officially recognize it, while maintaining informal ties.
The CCP has never ruled Taiwan, but claims the island is rightfully a part of the PRC and insists on its eventual “reuniciation” with the mainland, including by armed force if necessary.
Trump made his remarks about Xi’s words ahead of his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, to discuss an end to the war in Ukraine.
Comparing the Russo-Ukrainian conflict to the tensions between Taiwan and the CCP, Trump said “I will tell you, you know, you have a very similar thing with President Xi of China and Taiwan, but I don’t believe there’s any way it’s going to happen as long as I’m here. We’ll see.”
On Saturday (Aug. 16), a senior lawmaker from Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Wang Ting-yu, wrote on his Facebook page that his country was grateful for support from “our major ally.”
“However … Security cannot rely on the enemy’s promise, nor can it rely solely on the help from friends. Strengthening our own defense capability is fundamental!” Wang, who is a member of the ROC parliament’s defense and foreign affairs committee, said in remarks translated by Reuters.
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On Friday following Trump’s Fox News interview, the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C. described the topic of Taiwan as “the most important and sensitive issue” in Sino-U.S. relations.
“We will do our utmost to strive for the prospect of peaceful reunification. But we will never allow anyone or any force to separate Taiwan from China in any way,” Mao added in her remarks at the regular press briefing on Monday.
Communist Chinese air and naval forces periodically sortie in the skies and seas near Taiwan, and observers believe the CCP’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is focused on developing the capability to conduct the type of mass amphibious invasion or blocakde that would be needed to subdue the island and its defenders.
Meanwhile, ROC officials and other public figures warn about the CCP’s “united front” operations to subvert Taiwan’s government and society through non-military means.
