US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have reiterated that the United States’ position on Taiwan remains unchanged, even as the issue triggered a sharp response from the Chinese side during Trump’s ongoing visit. Rubio said, “Our policies on that have not changed,” adding that “It’s been pretty consistent across multiple presidential administrations and remains consistent now.”
Earlier, Chinese President Xi Jinping warned Trump that disagreements over Taiwan could push the two sides towards a possible military confrontation in the near future.
Beijing considers Taiwan as part of mainland China and has repeatedly said it will achieve reunification, by force if necessary.
While most countries, including the US, do not formally recognise Taiwan as an independent state, Washington remains strongly opposed to any attempt to take the self-governing island by force.
In a significant remark, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested that China should resolve the Taiwan issue through a popular vote rather than military means.
“It’s the first time where he or any other secretary of state has made a comment with regard to the arrangement of the island issue,” Rubio said.
“In a perfect world, what they would want is some vote or a referendum in Taiwan that agrees to fold in,” he added. “I think that’s what they would prefer.”
However, Xi has consistently told the international community that reunification is imminent, whether by force or peaceful means, depending on the Taiwanese leadership.
“We think it would be a terrible mistake to force that through force or anything of that nature,” Rubio said in response to Xi’s comments.
Rubio also described China as having the world’s second-largest military, only behind that of the US.
“China has ramped up its military build-up in general. The pace of growth in the Chinese military over the last 10 years has no precedent, none,” he said.
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