00:00We spoke to Taiwan's representative to the U.S. Ambassador Alexander Yu about whether he believes the U.S. would
00:05back Taiwan.
00:07First of all thank you for Christina and David for having me on your program.
00:13The U.S. administration has been very emphatic during and after the trip for President Trump to Beijing
00:21including President Trump himself mentioned that there is no change in U.S. policy towards Taiwan.
00:26And so so that's that's in itself is a real reassurance to Taiwan.
00:33But at the same time we are ready to defend ourselves.
00:38We're trying to beef up our own defensive capabilities.
00:42And the United States has been our primary provider of armed sales to Taiwan.
00:47And we continue we hope that to continue to do so in facing this mounting and growing aggression from mainland
00:54China.
00:55No doubt you heard the president talk about that 14 billion dollar arms package as a bargaining chip.
01:00And I wonder what your reaction to that is bearing in mind what you just said that you've gotten votes
01:05of confidence from from the administration as you say.
01:08What do you what should we make of the president saying it's something that could be deployed as a bargaining
01:12chip.
01:14Well we'll all respect President Trump's decision.
01:18He also said an administration mentioned just yesterday that a decision would be made by the president anytime soon.
01:25We obviously we hope that it will be a positive one.
01:28But again the important thing as there's no change in U.S. policy towards Taiwan and that includes you know
01:36longstanding arms sales to to to Taiwan and especially commensurate with the threat level that Taiwan is receiving.
01:44And the threat level we're receiving from mainland China right now is very very high.
01:49I understand that there's no official change in policy but it does seem that there is a change in energy
01:55and the vociferous nature by which previous presidents have defended Taiwan to the Chinese and the kind of lukewarm defense
02:02if that even was a defense the president delivered in Beijing.
02:05Do you feel like he delivered a strong enough message in those meetings with the Chinese leader.
02:13Well Xi Jinping from what we know Xi Jinping mentioned Taiwan a lot during his two days trip in Beijing.
02:22He wanted to make it the topic of discussion although there are many many things that should have been it
02:27was on the table.
02:29But and he he talked about Chinese version of the Taiwan so-called problem.
02:35And I'm I stress that Taiwan we're not the problem.
02:38The problem is mainland China who they're the ones to the other aggressors who they're the ones ramping all this
02:42military pressure on not just Taiwan but throughout the Indo-Pacific including Japan the Philippines etc.
02:49So their ambitions go way beyond Taiwan.
02:51You know they they're armed they're engaging in this very massive military buildup and it's just not for Taiwan.
02:59It's it's trying to impose their influence not only in the Pacific but beyond the in the Pacific so we
03:06are well aware of China's intentions to try to swallow Taiwan.
03:11Again we want to stress that Taiwan the Republic of China the official name of my country we are not
03:18subjected to the Chinese administration or control the people's Republic of China have never been controlling never controlled Taiwan.
03:30So the claim on Taiwan is something that is you know it's a bogus claim and but they they have
03:35this intention and we'll do whatever it takes to defend it.
03:39Christina mentioned the policy hasn't changed here but I guess it stands to there was this moment when the president
03:44indicated he might be calling Taiwan's president having a conversation with Taiwan's president.
03:49I'm curious your reaction to that what I think we should should make of that and if it does stand
03:52to upend a policy that's been in place now for for many decades.
03:58Well we are we will see.
04:01I mean there's not much I can say at this point but they will leave it to the United States
04:05to make any announcements.
04:07But again the the topic of discussion in Beijing a lot of us on Taiwan.
04:12So I think that at that very high level and I think that this discussion between the U.S. and
04:18Taiwan at that level I think is reasonable.
04:21There's a lot of stakes not just of the geopolitical issue that we just talked about but also about technology.
04:27You know Taiwan is your fourth largest trading partner United States.
04:33We engage in two hundred fifty six billion dollars worth of trade last year.
04:36But also United States is looking for maintaining its supremacy on artificial intelligence.
04:42And as you know Taiwan manufactures physically in Taiwan ninety five percent of the advanced chips semiconductors.
04:50But also we our companies make ninety percent of the servers though you know the stacks the service that runs
04:57the industry.
04:58industry. So we've been working with the United States closely on this field.
05:04We just signed an MOU on investment and an agreement of reciprocal trade earlier this year.
05:09So there's also a a mounting investments coming into United States.
05:16Forty percent of our FDIs come to United States.
05:18And also we're working with the United States on other issues such as critical minerals.
05:23How I'm bringing Taiwan more Taiwanese investments manufacturing to United States with suits.
05:29Also United States effort to for industrialization and industrialization.
05:33So actually there's a lot between Taiwan and U.S. can that we can talk about.
05:38I do want to go back to that in a second. But I want to ask you first.
05:40You mentioned that the threat from China was increasing.
05:44Do you think that is particularly eminent. Do you have a timeline for that.
05:47And what evidence do you have to support that.
05:51Well there's been talk about 2027 you know the Davidson window but because Xi Jinping had spoken to their People's
06:01Liberation Army some years ago that they should be prepared to invade Taiwan by this year of 2027.
06:082027 is the hundredth anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army.
06:12So that's sort of a symbolic you know objective of aim to making that.
06:17But they have been preparing for that you know actively as I mentioned they're massively having the military build up.
06:25And they're under no threats in their borders but they have been doing so.
06:30So their military capability has been enhanced and they are getting more and more aggressive.
06:35Actually right after President Trump's visit to Beijing and President Putin's visit now they're amassing over a hundred ships along
06:45you know the Taiwan Straits and nearby in the area sort of again trying to impose this coercion military coercion
06:53against Taiwan but other neighbors as well.
06:56So that's part of their nature.
06:57And also they keep so-called drawing red lines but they keep moving the goalposts to their advantage to say
07:05oh you know if you cross the red line you're you know I'm going to react.
07:09But they keep moving the goalposts and that's making things very difficult.
07:13I want to stress that you know U.S. and Taiwan we're like-minded countries and we have to work
07:20together along with other neighbors in the area to face this mounting aggression on mainland China.
07:28Again we're friends.
07:30If you travel to Taiwan you don't need a burner phone.
07:34You don't need to ditch all the things that you they received in the country at a trash bin before
07:40you board a plane.
07:41You know we are you're we're value wise like-minded.
07:46I want to ask you lastly just about the state of the relationship and the U.S. has postured towards
07:51friends multilateral institutions and going back to the clip that we played at the top of Brett Baer asking President
07:56Trump about the relationship.
07:57There there was a lot of ambiguity in the president's response and I'm curious in light of the way this
08:02president pursues foreign policy if there are more open questions than there have been in the past and how that
08:08makes the situation more difficult.
08:10Not knowing what the president's going to do not having the kind of unequivocal statements that you might have gotten
08:14from presidents in the past.
08:17Well I mean I think every every person every president has his own specific style of conducting business in state
08:28state statesmanship.
08:29But I want to stress this administration as well as others they've been repeating affirming that there's no change in
08:38the position of United States policy towards Taiwan.
08:41And actually President Trump during his first term and his second this current term actually he has sold more arms
08:50to Taiwan than any other president.
08:52During his first term he sold Taiwan 18 billion dollars worth of weapons and in this term so far it's
08:59been over 11 billion dollars.
09:01Are you confident that next package will come through? Are you confident the president will approve that package?
09:06Well you know we're waiting as most people are waiting for the for the announcement but we hope and we're
09:16we're we are sure that having Taiwan strong in defense suits not only Taiwan's own interest in defending better itself
09:24but also United States interest to to have peace and stability in the area.
09:29Again nobody wants a war. United States coast is 9500 miles away but Guam is only 1700 miles away from
09:37Taiwan.
09:38So again any conflict in Taiwan will be devastating. It's not only for Taiwan but also for world trade.
09:4450 percent of gold trade goes through the Taiwan Strait and any conflict in the area will cause unsurmountable losses.
09:52Any you know losses has been estimated goes into the trillions.
09:55You. You.
09:56You.
09:56You.
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