President Trump Bodies CBS Reporter Over Question On U.S. Military Plans For A China-Taiwan Conflict

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Did she really think the President of the United States is just going to hand over military secrets during an interview?

President Trump hinted in an interview with 60 Minutes’ Norah O’Donnell what the United States do be if China was to invade Taiwan.

The topic got brought up when O’Donnell asked Trump what the U.S. military would do if China was to make a move military on Taiwan.

The 47th President responded that he would not give military secrets to her but did note “China knows the consequences.”

CBS News reported more on Trump’s response to the question on what the United States will do if China invades Taiwan:

In an exclusive interview airing Sunday on 60 Minutes, President Trump said that Chinese President Xi Jinping knows “the consequences” of military action in Taiwan, but he declined to expand on his plan if China were to invade the island, telling correspondent Norah O’Donnell: “I can’t give away my secrets.”

“One potential flashpoint with China, probably the potential flashpoint with China in the coming years, is over the issue of Taiwan,” said O’Donnell, referencing the Chinese military’s push to close in on Taiwan’s waterways, airspace, and cyberspace. She asked whether Mr. Trump would order U.S. forces to defend Taiwan should Xi move militarily on the island, something the American president has insisted China would not do as long as he is in office.

Mr. Trump said he and Xi didn’t broach the issue during their meeting and that Chinese officials “know the consequences” of taking military action against Taiwan.

Mr. Trump said the topic “never came up” during their meeting last week. “He never brought it up. People were a little surprised at that,” Mr. Trump said. “But they understand what’s gonna happen. He has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘We would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences.”

This is Mr. Trump’s first interview with 60 Minutes in five years — and his first since he sued and then settled with CBS parent company Paramount over a 2024 interview with then Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. The settlement did not include an apology.

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ABC News noted Trump said China President Xi Jingping has now plans to invade the island while Trump is president and shared the historic policy the United States has on China-Taiwan relations

  • President Donald Trump says that Chinese President Xi Jinping has given him assurances that Beijing would take no action toward its long-stated goal of unifying Taiwan with mainland China while the Republican leader is in office.

    Trump said that the long-contentious issue of Taiwan did not come up in his talks with Xi on Thursday in South Korea that largely focused on U.S.-China trade tensions. But the U.S. leader expressed certainty that China would not take action on Taiwan, while he’s in office.

    “He has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘We would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in an excerpt of an interview with the CBS’ program “60 Minutes” that aired Sunday.

    U.S. officials have long been concerned about the possibility of China using military force against Taiwan, the self-ruled island democracy claimed by Beijing as part of its territory.

    The 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, which has governed U.S. relations with the island, does not require the U.S. to step in militarily if China invades but makes it American policy to ensure Taiwan has the resources to defend itself and to prevent any unilateral change of status by Beijing.



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