Trump demands that Taiwan pays for US defence amid semiconductor rift
The former US president and candidate in this year's election, Donald Trump, stated that Taiwan should be paying the United States for defence against China. He also criticized the sanctions against Russia and suggested that the leaders of China and Russia, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, were his friends.
"I know the people very well, respect them greatly. They did take about 100 percent of our chip business. I think Taiwan should pay us for defence," said Trump in an interview on June 25 for Bloomberg but published on Tuesday.
"You know, we're no different than an insurance company. Taiwan doesn't give us anything," added the former US president.
Trump pointed out that Taiwan is thousands of kilometres from the US, and Xi Jinping is greatly interested in it.
Taiwan is 15,000 kilometres from here and 110 kilometres from China. A slight difference, and China is a huge piece of land and could simply bomb it - added Trump.
The Republican presidential candidate later stated that if he were in Taiwan's position, he "wouldn't feel so safe."
"Taiwan took our chip business away from us. I mean how stupid are we? They took all of our chip business. They’re immensely wealthy. . . . I don’t think we’re any different from an insurance policy. Why? Why are we doing this?" he asked.
Trump: I get along great with Putin
In an interview with Bloomberg, he emphasized that until the COVID-19 pandemic, Xi was "his very good friend." Just like Putin, with whom he "got along great." In Trump's opinion, Putin would not have attacked Ukraine if he were the US president.
Trump said people were never in danger of war. As he persuades, Putin would never have entered Ukraine, since former US president had told him, "never, ever go into Ukraine."
He also criticized the current US administration's policy for "forcing China and Russia into a marriage." As Trump added, they took in Iran. Then North Korea, so they don't need anyone else.
When asked about his view on the sanctions against Russia, the former president stated that he "doesn't love sanctions" and "what we're doing with sanctions is driving everyone away from us." He added, however, that the sanctions imposed on Iran were useful.
