Trump calls for Taiwan to pay for US military support

Former U.S. president and candidate in this year's election, Donald Trump, believes that Taiwan should pay the United States for defense against the People's Republic of China. In mid-July, he also criticized sanctions against Russia and suggested that the leaders of China and Russia, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, were his friends.

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," said Trump in an interview conducted on June 25 for Bloomberg, published only three weeks later, in mid-July.

The former president pointed out that Taiwan is thousands of miles from the United States, and Xi Jinping cares deeply about it. "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," Trump added.

The Republican presidential candidate later said that if he were in Taiwan's position, he "wouldn't feel so secure." "But remember this: Taiwan took our chip business from us, I mean, how stupid are we? They took all of our chip business. They’re immensely wealthy. And I don’t think we’re any different from an insurance policy. Why? Why are we doing this?" he asked.

Trump had previously pointed out in other interviews that Taiwan "took" the semiconductor industry from the United States, but he had never so clearly questioned the sense of defending Taiwan.

In the Bloomberg interview, he noted that until the Covid-19 pandemic, Chinese leader Xi Jinping was "a very good friend of his"—as was Putin, with whom he "got along great."

"We were never in danger of a war. He would have never gotten into Ukraine. I said, don’t ever, ever go into Ukraine," Trump stated. He also criticized the current U.S. administration's policy for forcing China and Russia "to get married."

"Then they took in their little cousin, Iran, and then they took in North Korea. They don’t need anybody else. They don’t need anybody else," Trump added.

When asked about his assessment of sanctions against Russia, the former president stated that he "does not love sanctions" and that "what we’re doing with sanctions is we’re forcing everyone away from us." He did add, however, that sanctions imposed on Iran were useful.

The presidential election in the United States is scheduled for November 5, 2024. Donald Trump will face Democratic candidate Kamala Harris. The term of the new president will begin on January 20, 2025, and last until January 20, 2029.