Trump refuses to say if he’d defend Taiwan from Chinese aggression

WorldPolitics
16 May 2026 • 1:16 AM MYT
The Independent
The Independent

The world’s most free-thinking newspaper

Trump refuses to say if he’d defend Taiwan from Chinese aggression

Donald Trump has refused to say if he would defend Taiwan if it were attacked by China.

Speaking to reporters on Air Force One following a two-day summit in Beijing, the US president said that Xi Jinping had asked him the same question. “I don’t talk about that,” Mr Trump claimed he told the Chinese leader.

“I'm not gonna say that. There's only one person that knows that. You know who it is? Me. I'm the only person.”

The US and Taiwan have been long-standing allies, and Washington is bound by law to provide the island nation with defensive weapons under the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) of 1979.

However, Mr Trump has yet to formally move forward with an arms sale package to Taipei worth around $14 billion.

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