US presidential candidate has cast doubts on the ‘ military commitment to , saying Wednesday that Taipei “should pay us for protection” against .
In an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, former President Trump said he knows the people of Taiwan “very well” and “respect[s] them greatly,” but said that “they did take about 100 percent of our chip business” and therefore “should pay us for defense.”
Trump said that, in the context of the , the US is “no different than an insurance company” for Taiwan, which “doesn’t give us anything.”
Trump was responding to a question about whether the US would help defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion.
Taiwan broke away from mainland China following the communist victory in the Chinese Civil War in 1949 and the establishment of the People’s Republic of China.
But Beijing still considers the island as a part of its territory and has vowed to reunite it with the mainland – with force if necessary.
While the US doesn’t officially recognize Taiwan, maintaining a “policy of deliberate ambiguity” to avoid provoking China, Washington is Taipei’s most important military backer and it has for the self-governing island.
Taiwan says ‘willing to take on more responsibility’
Acknowledging Trump’s comments, Taiwanese Premier Cho Jung-tai pointed out that Taipei had boosted its own defense budget in recent years.
“We are willing to take on more responsibility; we are defending ourselves and ensuring our security,” he told reporters.
“We are also clear that Taiwan-US relations have been very strong in recent years. Maintaining peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait and Indo-Pacific region is our common responsibility and goal.”
Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party Secretary-General Lin Yu-chang added: “China is the biggest threat to the United States; this is the consensus of the Democratic and Republican parties. Now is the best era of Taiwan-US relations.”
The fate of Taiwan, a 36,200 square-kilometer island that is about ten times smaller than Germany, is important for the global economy due to its .
The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and the United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) are two of the largest producers of computer chips in the world and count tech giants like Apple among their biggest clients.
TSMC is currently working to diversify its production geographically, including with . But most of its production capacity remains in Taiwan.
mf/rm (Reuters, AFP)
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