If China attacked Taiwan, what would Trump do?

The Global Story

2025-10-27

26 分钟
PDF

单集简介 ...

President Trump is in Asia this week to strike deals with several countries, including with China. One of the big questions overshadowing the trip is Taiwan’s future. China has long vowed to "reunify" with self-governing Taiwan and has not ruled out the use of force. On Sunday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US wouldn’t abandon the island in exchange for a favourable deal with China. But a tug of war has been playing out inside the Trump administration over whether a military battle for Taiwan – if China did try to seize it – would be in America’s best interests. We speak to writer and analyst James Crabtree about what to expect from Trump’s visit to Asia and where Taiwan goes from here. Producers: Viv Jones and Xandra Ellin Executive producer: James Shield Mix: Travis Evans Senior news editor: China Collins Image: Taiwanese people observe the changing of honor guards in Liberty Square in Taipei. Ritchie B Tongo/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock.
更多

单集文稿 ...

  • Tristan, President Trump is not in Washington this week.

  • He is, in fact, in Asia on one of the riskiest trips any president has ever taken.

  • That's according to what his former advisor, Steve Bannon, told Politico the other day.

  • He's in Asia for the first trip of this second term, meeting with a whole bunch of world leaders.

  • Critically, he's expected to meet with China's president this week.

  • He's there to try to strike a deal to deal with an economic crisis,

  • one that many folks would say was arguably created by him and his tariff policy.

  • Well, Asma, I would argue that the economic crisis isn't even the half of it,

  • because the greatest danger, it seems to me, could be coming from somewhere else altogether.

  • And that is Taiwan.

  • I don't see that at all with President Xi.

  • I think we're going to get along very well as it pertains to Taiwan.

  • That doesn't mean it's not the apple of his eye, because probably it is.

  • Taiwan is one of the United States' biggest friends in Asia.

  • But I sometimes wonder if actually US presidents wish it didn't exist at all.

  • And that's because China hasn't made any secret of the fact that it wants to re-annex Taiwan.

  • It wants to bring Taiwan back into mainland China.

  • And if that happens,

  • we could have a situation in Asia-Pacific that goes from extremely tense to explosive.

  • So what have you been working on for today, Tristan?