President Trump said he was informed by Chinese President Xi Jinping that the Chinese military won’t invade Taiwan during his time in office.
Mr. Trump compared the threat of a Chinese attack on the island democracy to Russian President Vladimir Putin long eyeing a takeover of Ukraine.
“I understand Putin. It was the apple of his eye. Ukraine was the apple of his eye,” Mr. Trump told Fox News anchor Bret Baier on Air Force One on the way to Friday’s Alaska summit with Mr. Putin.
Mr. Trump said during his first term “there was no way” the Russians were going to invade Ukraine.
“I will tell you, you have a very similar thing with President Xi of China and Taiwan, but I don’t believe there’s any way it’s going to happen,” Mr. Trump said. “As long as I’m here, we’ll see. He told me, ‘I will never do it as long as you’re president.’”
Mr. Trump then stated: “President Xi told me that, and I said, ‘Well, I appreciate that.’”
Mr. Xi also issued an ominous warning, saying, “But I am very patient, and China is very patient,” according to Mr. Trump.
Mr. Trump then replied, “Well, that’s up to you, but it better not happen now.”
The comments were the first direct response by Mr. Trump to multiyear warnings from U.S. military commanders that China is on track for aggression against Taiwan as soon as the next two years.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a speech in May that the threat of a Chinese invasion was real and “could be imminent.”
“Any attempt by Communist China to conquer Taiwan by force would result in devastating consequences for the Indo-Pacific and the world,” Mr. Hegseth said at a Singapore conference of defense leaders. “There’s no reason to sugarcoat it. The threat China poses is real.”
Since becoming president in 2013, Mr. Xi has made a takeover of Taiwan a national priority and a focus of the People’s Liberation Army’s buildup.
Commanders from the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command have warned for several years that a Chinese assault on Taiwan, a democracy that China claims is a breakaway province, could come as early as 2027.
Mr. Xi has ordered the PLA to be ready for such an assault that year, according to Adm. Sam Paparo, chief of Indo-Pacific Command.
Intelligence agencies also believe a Chinese invasion will take place sometime in the coming years.
In 2022, then-CIA Director William Burns said Mr. Xi is determined to take control of the island and is studying the lessons of Russian military shortcomings in Ukraine before taking action.
“Our sense is that it probably affects less the question of whether the Chinese leadership might choose some years down the road to use force to control Taiwan, but how and when they would do it,” Mr. Burns said during a security conference.
A U.S. defense official told The Washington Times that the PLA is continuing to make progress in developing joint warfighting skills and preparing for “arguably the hardest conventional military operation known to man — an opposed amphibious landing across a body of water.”
The official added, “While we are respectful of the gains that they’re making, we see a lot of holes still in their ability to execute things. Now, if we take them at their word that the timeline is 2027 or after to have the capabilities in place, they still got some time to work, and they will need it, I think, to get there.”
Retired Gen. Charles Flynn, until last year commander of U.S. Army Pacific forces, said in May that the risk of war with China over Taiwan is increasing and America needs to be better prepared for the conflict.
“The threat of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan is no longer distant or theoretical,” Gen. Flynn told Congress. “The urgency to restore credible deterrence in the Indo-Pacific has never been greater.”
Rep. John Moolenaar, Michigan Republican and chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, said China’s goal of being ready for an invasion in 2027 was first identified in 2021 by Adm. Philip Davidson, who was chief of Indo-Pacific Command. Hence, the timeline called the “2027 Davidson window.”