Former U.S. President Donald Trump is looking to get back into the White House, but what could that mean for the future of Taiwan? In part three of our series, “Defending Taiwan,” we take a look at how Trump and the Republican party would handle relations with Taiwan.
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00:00With just weeks to go before the U.S. picks a new president, topics like the economy and
00:05immigration are in the spotlight, but many here in Taipei are asking what a second Trump
00:11presidency could mean for Taiwan.
00:13Well, take a look at how former U.S. President Donald Trump answers a question about whether
00:18he would defend Taiwan.
00:20Taiwan did take all of our chip business.
00:22You know, we used to make our own chips.
00:24Now they're made in Taiwan.
00:2590% of the chips are made in Taiwan.
00:27If China takes Taiwan, they will turn the world off, potentially.
00:33This statement, while not true, have left many in Taiwan concerned.
00:37Even though the U.S. and Taiwan don't have official ties, Taipei still relies on Washington
00:42for almost all of its weapons.
00:46Taiwan Plus traveled to Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania to meet with U.S. and Taiwanese
00:51representatives to find out how they're prepping for a possible second Trump administration.
00:59Members of Taiwan's main opposition party, the Kuomintang, or KMT, say that a headstrong
01:04Trump has them bracing for his return.
01:07I think we need to understand that President Trump is a person that will stick with his
01:19first impression or a fixed mindset on certain issues.
01:24Once the idea is in, it's very hard to, you know, push him to change that image or idea.
01:33Others say that Trump's bold character could be good for Taiwan, as it could help the country
01:37get hold of more weapons.
01:40I think it's fair to say that if Mr. Trump is re-elected, that the boundaries around
01:47arms sales to Taiwan will expand.
01:50With Mr. Trump, we get more unpredictability, of course, and that creates anxiety and concern.
01:56He's also talked about defense and how the United States gets nothing back for underpinning
02:03Taiwan's security.
02:05Trump has been known to be very vocal on certain issues, including Taiwan, which faces the
02:10threat of invasion from China.
02:12Recently, Trump criticized Taiwan for not paying for its defense, but looking at the
02:16numbers, they tell a different story.
02:19Under the Trump administration, Taiwan spent a record amount on arms sales from the U.S.
02:24compared to other presidencies, spending billions on fighter jets, tanks and missiles, the majority
02:31of which still haven't been delivered.
02:33That's a bit different to the current Biden administration, which has mostly provided
02:37Taiwan with munitions and maintenance deals.
02:42Many in D.C. say that while Trump most likely will continue this kind of support, it's not
02:47just him running the show.
02:49While under Trump's presidency, Taiwan saw the most ever arms sales, it's his rhetoric
02:54on Taiwan that could pose an obstacle, but many analysts say that what he says isn't
02:58exactly what the Republican Party thinks about Taiwan.
03:02The politics of this are not easy, the economics of it are not easy.
03:05Alex Velas-Green is a senior policy advisor with the Heritage Foundation, a conservative
03:11U.S. think tank.
03:12He says while Trump is more vocal on the war in Ukraine, the Republican Party as a whole
03:17would focus more on Asia, what he thinks is the biggest challenge.
03:22There are increasingly questions about whether Taiwan can still be defended.
03:25And that is a statement about the fact that China has gone full on in its military modernization.
03:31It is more likely in a conservative administration that you would see that emphasis manifest,
03:36that you would see a conservative administration do more to confront China and deter Beijing
03:40than we've seen so far under the Biden administration.
03:43He says that in recent years, the U.S. has been distracted by global conflicts in both
03:48Ukraine and in Gaza, and if Trump were elected again, it could bring a wave of policy geared
03:53towards handling threats in the Indo-Pacific.
03:57If you're going to prioritize China, particularly from a military perspective, given scarce
04:01resources, it suggests you're going to have to do less of something elsewhere, and that
04:04becomes a hang-up.
04:05What are you going to do less of in order to do more to deal with China?
04:10The Biden administration, Congress as well, they've been very reluctant to find ways to
04:14do less in the European theater, to do less in the Middle Eastern theater.
04:18And this, many analysts say, will be the biggest difference between Harris and Trump administrations,
04:24prioritizing Asia over other regions.
04:26But with Trump's history of transactional relationships, there's still a chance he could
04:31move priorities away from Asia, towards other regions he thinks might be more important
04:36than Taiwan.
04:37Andy Hsueh and Jaime O'Connor in Washington, D.C., for Taiwan Plus.