Trump says China's Xi has assured him that he won't take action on
Taiwan during Republican's term
[November 03, 2025]
By AAMER MADHANI
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald 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.
“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.
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President Donald Trump speaks to the media after boarding Air Force
One at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Friday, Oct. 31, 2025, enroute to
Florida. AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
“You’ll find out if it happens, and he understands the answer to
that,” Trump said of Xi.
Liu Pengyu, spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington, did not
respond directly to a query about whether Trump has received any
assurances from Xi or Chinese officials about Taiwan. He insisted in
a statement that China “will never allow any person or force to
separate Taiwan from China in any way.”
“The Taiwan question is China’s internal affair, and it is the core
of China’s core interests. How to resolve the Taiwan question is a
matter for the Chinese people ourselves, and only the Chinese people
can decide it," the statement added.
The White House also did not provide further details about when Xi
or Chinese officials have conveyed to Trump that military action on
Taiwan was off-the-table for the duration of the Republican's
presidency.
The "60 Minutes" interview was taped on Friday at Trump's Mar-a-Lago
resort in Florida. It marked Trump's first appearance on the show
since he settled a lawsuit this summer with CBS News over the
newsmagazine’s interview with Kamala Harris.
The rest of the interview is scheduled to air later Sunday.
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