Trump remains silent on Taiwan-China dispute

I don’t want to say that.

Washington (ANTARA) - US President Donald Trump was reluctant to explicitly answer whether the United States would support Taiwan or not if a conflict occurred with China.

“I don’t want to say that. I won’t say that,” Trump said.

Trump added that his counterpart, Chinese President Xi Jinping, had asked him the same question.

“I don’t talk about those things,” Trump said in response.

Previously, on Thursday (May 14), US Secretary of State Marco Rubio explained that US policy towards Taiwan had not changed after Trump’s visit to Beijing.

Secretary of State Rubio also warned China that there would be global consequences if it decided to use “force” to reunify with Taiwan.

Previously, during his meeting with Trump on Thursday (May 14), Xi said that if the Taiwan issue was not handled properly, it could lead to conflict between China and the United States, which would seriously damage bilateral China-US relations.

Xi also told Trump that Taiwan’s independence was incompatible with peace in the Taiwan Strait.

Taiwan has been governed independently from mainland China since 1949. Beijing views the island as a province in its territory; while Taiwan, a territory with its own elected government, maintains that it is an autonomous country, although it has not declared independence.

Beijing also opposes any official contact from foreign countries with Taipei and considers China’s sovereignty over the island to be indisputable.

Source: Sputnik/RIA Novosti