Washington [US], March 10: US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent expressed confidence that China would not take any action against Taiwan during President Donald Trump's tenure, as reported by Taipei Times.
China views Taiwan as part of its territory and has not dismissed the possibility of using military force to assert control over it. Last Thursday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi declared that "China will achieve reunification with Taiwan, and this is inevitable."
Taipei Times reported that during an interview, Bessent was asked if he believed Chinese President Xi Jinping would take action on Taiwan. He responded, "I follow President Trump's lead, and he is confident that President Xi will not make that move during his presidency."
When asked a similar question by local media last Monday during the White House's announcement of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co's USD 100 billion investment in the US, Trump stated that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan "would clearly be a catastrophic event, obviously," as reported by Taipei Times.
Elbridge Colby, whom Trump selected to head Pentagon policy, stated that if Taiwan were to fall to China, it "would be a catastrophe for American interests," and emphasized that Taipei needs to increase its defence spending to deter Beijing. He suggested that the US Department of Defense should speed up its preparations to counter a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan and concentrate on preventing conflict in the Taiwan Strait, the Taipei Times reported.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio emphasised in an interview, "We have a longstanding position on Taiwan that we're not going to abandon, and that is: We are against any forced, compelled, coercive change in the status of Taiwan. That's been our position since the late 1970s, and that continues to be our position, and that's not going to change."
Therefore, the United States remains firm in its commitment to Taiwan's security, with top officials, including President Trump, Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, and Elbridge Colby, emphasizing the importance of deterring any Chinese aggression.
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