President Donald Trump, left, and Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, shake hands before their meeting in South Korea on Thursday. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
The silence from Trump and Xi contrasted sharply with the noise of those military preparations on both sides of the Pacific.
Taiwan watchers have been left guessing about just how much the United States would come to the island’s defense if China invaded — an intentional policy known as strategic ambiguity that Trump has taken to a new level.
The president earlier this month predicted optimistically that China would not invade Taiwan.
"I think we’ll be just fine with China. China doesn’t want to do that," he said. "As it pertains to Taiwan — and that doesn’t mean it’s not the apple of his eye, because probably it is — but I don’t see anything happening."
Compared with other conflict zones, Trump has said little about the prospect of war in the Indo-Pacific, leaving allies and adversaries alike uncertain about how far he would go to defend Taiwan.
Some analysts who favor strong U.S. support for Taiwan were relieved the issue didn’t surface, given concerns Trump might trade the island’s interests for economic concessions — such as looser Chinese mineral export restrictions, larger agricultural purchases or cooperation on curbing the precursor chemicals fueling America’s fentanyl crisis.
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"I think it's a good thing that Taiwan didn't come up," said Raymond Kuo, a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation. "There’s been a lot of concern in Taiwan, especially recently, that it would be sold out for some kind of U.S.–China grand bargain."
Matthew Kroenig, vice president of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, said he viewed the omission as "neutral," though he would have preferred the president restate the "One China" policy while warning Beijing to "knock off its almost daily military coercion and gray-zone activities against Taiwan."
Kuo noted that Taiwan has sharply increased its defense spending as tensions rise, boosting its budget by roughly 75% in the past two years and now allocating a greater share of government funds to defense than the U.S. does proportionally. Still, he warned that production delays in U.S. weapons deliveries — including a backlog that exceeded $20 billion at the start of this year — could weaken Taiwan’s ability to keep pace with China’s military modernization.
Taiwan expert Raymond Kuo warned that production delays in U.S. weapons deliveries — including a backlog that exceeded $20 billion at the start of this year — could weaken Taiwan’s ability to keep pace with China’s military modernization. (Daniel Ceng/AP Photo)
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Kroenig added that Trump’s unpredictability may itself be part of his deterrent strategy. "It keeps our adversaries guessing and worried," he said. "It may be unlikely that China would attack Taiwan under his watch."
Still, Trump’s meeting with Xi offered little clarity on where the president ultimately stands on Taiwan — or how he would respond if Beijing tested the limits of U.S. commitment to the island’s security. For now, both leaders appear content to keep the most volatile issue in their relationship unspoken. The quiet may help avert confrontation in the short term — but it leaves one of the world’s most dangerous flashpoints lingering just beneath the surface.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-xi-skip-taiwan-talk-despite-growing-war-risk