TAIPEI -- Taiwan is bracing for the results of the U.S. election, with some officials worried about what a new Trump administration could mean given the former president’s isolationist views.
On the presidential trail, Taiwan has not been a major campaign question, though a key foreign policy topic has centered on how to take on China.
The concerns about former President Trump center on his calls for Taiwan to pay for any defense from the U.S., and his resistance to defending Ukraine against Russia. Taiwan is worried about a potential Chinese invasion in 2027.
Taiwan says an invasion is a serious possibility, including in 2027, but whether China will stage such an attack remains unclear. The year is the date Chinese President Xi Jinping has told his forces to be read for a potential attack, but does not mean it will happen then.
Taiwan officials are stressing that there is bipartisan support for their country in Washington but remain on edge.
“We are very concerned by the election of the U.S., because the U.S. is our most important ally,” Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Francois Chihchung Wu told The Hill in an interview. She said Taiwan is “very, very worried” about the election.
“We are certainly very, very [interested in] the result of the U.S. presidential election. But having said that, I need to say that now the support of Taiwan is becoming a general consensus,” she added.
“If Trump [were to] abandon Taiwan, I wonder how he can make America Great Again, because he would lose the support, the credibility of the U.S. in the Asian Pacific,” he said. “My feeling is that we are just worried for the uncertainty.”
A person in a high level of Taiwan’s government stressed there was bipartisan unity and Taiwan was “not that worried.”
“Bipartisan support for Taiwan is actually quite strong,“ the person said, adding, however, that China would “test the new government” and that it was crucial for Washington to continue working with Taipei to build up defenses.
Trump’s comments on Taiwan have been........