President Donald Trump said Friday that he refused to directly answer Chinese President Xi Jinping when asked if the United States would defend Taiwan if China attacked it.
“That question was asked to me today,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One as they flew back to the United States from a two-day summit in Beijing.
“That question was asked to me today by President Xi. I said I don’t talk about that,” the president said.
Trump’s comment came in response to a reporter who had asked if the U.S. would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack.
“I don’t want to say that,” Trump replied.
“There’s only one person that knows that. You know who it is? Me. I’m the only person,” he said, before noting that Xi had asked the same question of him earlier.
When the summit began, Xi pointedly warned Trump that the U.S. and China “will have clashes and even conflicts” if the long-standing issue of Taiwan’s independence is mishandled.
Xi told his American counterpart it could put “the entire relationship” between their two nations “in great jeopardy” if that issue is not “properly” handled, the Chinese state news outlet Xinhua reported on Thursday.
Xi told Trump that “the Taiwan question” is “the most important issue in China-U.S. relations,” Xinhua reported.