In an interview with Fox News' Bret Baier that aired Friday, President Trump said that he doesn't want "to travel 9,500 miles to fight a war" over Taiwan.
"I'm not looking to have somebody to go independent and, you know, we're supposed to travel 9,500 miles to fight a war," Trump told Baier. "I'm not looking for that. I want them to cool down. I want China to cool down."
Taiwan has been a major point of friction between Washington and Beijing. Last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told NBC News that the issue was not a key topic during Trump's summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
The initial White House readout of the summit also did not mention Taiwan, home to the world's most advanced semiconductor production.
Taiwan is strategically important for three main reasons:
It is indispensable to global semiconductor production.
It sits at the center of the Western Pacific security architecture.
It remains a major flashpoint in U.S.-China relations.
In other words, Taiwan is critically important to the U.S. because it is not only a semiconductor production supernode, but also a geopolitical fortress against China and a potential flashpoint in U.S.-China relations.
However, Chamath Palihapitiya, CEO of Social Capital and part of theAll-In podcast, pointed out that Taiwan could be on track to lose one of its most strategic advantages in the next 18 months.
Source: ZeroHedge News
