US president-elect Donald Trump said he would “never say” if Washington is committed to defending Taiwan from China, but “I would prefer that they do not do it [ an attack],” adding that he has a “good relationship” with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平).
“I never say because I have to negotiate things, right?” Trump said in an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press host Kristen Welker after saying he would not reveal his incoming administration’s stance on Taiwan’s defense in the event of an attack.
Asked the question again, Trump, in a reference to China, said: “I would prefer that they do not do it.”
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA-EFE
Trump said he has talked with Xi since his election and communicated with him as recently as three days before the interview.
Asked if he told Xi that China must not invade Taiwan in the most recent exchange, Trump said: “We did not talk about that.”
“I have a very good relationship [with Xi] and I hope he does not do it,” he added.
Separately, Japanese media reported that Washington is to reconstitute the US forces in Japan as a joint force headquarters under the Indo-Pacific Command.
The move would enable the US to use the planned headquarters to facilitate coordination between the Indo-Pacific Command and the Japanese Self-Defense Forces (JSDF), Kyodo News said.
The two nations would create a task force to oversee the headquarters’ establishment, it said.
The JSDF are creating a Joint Operations Command, which is expected to be operational before the end of this year, to interface with the proposed US headquarters, it said.
The reorganization of the two nations’ forces was among the subjects discussed in the US-Japan 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue in July, Kyodo News said.
Lieutenant General Stephen Jost, commander of US Forces in Japan, and Japanese Minister of Defense Gen Nakatani discussed the matter at their intelligence-sharing meeting in October, it said.
The reflagging was part of US lawmaker’s addendum to the US$895.2 billion National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 proposed by the US Department of Defense, it said.
The conditions, which included the conduct of specific joint activities between the US and Japanese forces, must be implemented within 180 days of the bill’s expected passage by the US Congress, it said.
FORCED LABOR: A US court listed three Taiwanese and nine firms based in Taiwan in its indictment, with eight of the companies registered at the same address Nine companies registered in Taiwan, as well as three Taiwanese, on Tuesday were named by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs) as a result of a US federal court indictment. The indictment unsealed at the federal court in Brooklyn, New York, said that Chen Zhi (陳志), a dual Cambodian-British national, is being indicted for fraud conspiracy, money laundering and overseeing Prince Holding Group’s forced-labor scam camps in Cambodia. At its peak, the company allegedly made US$30 million per day, court documents showed. The US government has seized Chen’s noncustodial wallet, which contains
SUPPLY CHAIN: Taiwan’s advantages in the drone industry include rapid production capacity that is independent of Chinese-made parts, the economic ministry said The Executive Yuan yesterday approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion (US$1.44 billion) into domestic production of uncrewed aerial vehicles over the next six years, bringing Taiwan’s output value to more than NT$40 billion by 2030 and making the nation Asia’s democratic hub for the drone supply chain. The proposed budget has NT$33.8 billion in new allocations and NT$10.43 billion in existing funds, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. Under the new development program, the public sector would purchase nearly 100,000 drones, of which 50,898 would be for civil and government use, while 48,750 would be for national defense, it said. The Ministry of
SENATE RECOMMENDATION: The National Defense Authorization Act encourages the US secretary of defense to invite Taiwan’s navy to participate in the exercises in Hawaii The US Senate on Thursday last week passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2026, which strongly encourages the US secretary of defense to invite Taiwan’s naval forces to participate in the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise, as well as allocating military aid of US$1 billion for Taiwan. The bill, which authorizes appropriations for the military activities of the US Department of Defense, military construction and other purposes, passed with 77 votes in support and 20 against. While the NDAA authorizes about US$925 billion of defense spending, the Central News Agency yesterday reported that an aide of US
NINE-IN-ONE ELECTIONS: Prosecutors’ offices recorded 115 cases of alleged foreign interference in the presidential election campaign from August 2023 to Dec. 13 last year The National Security Bureau (NSB) yesterday said that it has begun planning early to counter Chinese interference in next year’s nine-in-one elections as its intelligence shows that Beijing might intensify its tactics, while warning of continued efforts to infiltrate the government and military. The bureau submitted a report to the Legislative Yuan ahead of a meeting today of the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee. “We will research situations in different localities and keep track of abnormalities to ensure that next year’s elections proceed without disruption,” the bureau said. Although the project is generally launched during election years, reports of alleged Chinese interference
RSS