Trump Says Taiwan Should Pay the US for Its Defense

The former president oversaw an increase in US support for Taiwan that led to increased US-China tensions during his time in office

Former President Trump, the Republican Party’s presidential nominee, told Bloomberg in an interview published on Tuesday that Taiwan should pay the US to defend the island and compared the idea to an insurance policy.

President Biden has vowed several times that he would intervene to defend Taiwan in the event of an attack, breaking from the decades-long US policy of strategic ambiguity on the issue.

Trump was asked if he would defend Taiwan and said, “Look, a couple of things. Number one, Taiwan. I know the people very well, respect them greatly. They did take about 100% of our chip business. I think, Taiwan should pay us for defense. You know, we’re no different than an insurance company. Taiwan doesn’t give us anything.”

He continued, “Taiwan is 9,500 miles away. It’s 68 miles away from China. A slight advantage, and China’s a massive piece of land, they could just bombard it. They don’t even need to—I mean, they can literally just send shells. Now they don’t want to do that because they don’t want to lose all those chip plants.”

During his time in office, President Trump oversaw an increase in US support for Taiwan that ramped up tensions between the US and China. President Biden continued boosting ties with Taiwan and Trump’s overall tough-on-China policy, including the trade war and tariffs.

Trump suggested to Bloomberg that tensions wouldn’t be so high if he remained in office, saying, “The day I left they sent 28 bombers right over the top and they’ve been very aggressive ever since, they got ships all over the place.”

Trump appeared to be referencing Chinese military flights in Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone, which is different from the island’s airspace. China first increased its flights in Taiwan’s ADIZ when Trump was in office in 2020, in response to the US sending high-level officials to the island.

But Chinese flights in the ADIZ and across the Median Line, an unofficial barrier that separates the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, have dramatically increased under Biden, especially since then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in August 2022.

Trump reiterated in the interview that defending Taiwan would be very hard for the US but didn’t rule it out. “I just think we have to be smart, but remember 9,500 miles away,” he said.

Author: Dave DeCamp

Dave DeCamp is the news editor of Antiwar.com, follow him on Twitter @decampdave.