Xi won’t take action on Taiwan during my term: Trump cites S Korea meet

US President Donald Trump has said 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 the long-contentious issue of Taiwan did not come up in his talks with Xi on Thursday in South Korea, which largely focused on US-China trade tensions. But he expressed certainty that China would not take action on Taiwan while he was 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 interview excerpt that aired on Sunday. US officials have long been concerned about the possibility of China using military force against Taiwan, the self-ruled democracy claimed by Beijing as part of its territory. The 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, which has governed US relations with the island, does not require the US 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.

Be firm on countering Beijing in SCS: US to ASEAN   

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has urged Southeast Asian nations to stand firm and strengthen their maritime forces to counter China’s increasingly “destabilising” actions in the South China Sea. Hours later, he struck a notably softer tone online, saying US-China ties had “never been better” and that both sides agreed to set up direct military communication channels.