Trump advisers fear China may target Taiwan within five years after summit
Some close advisers to President Trump fear the biggest substantive result of the China summit is heightened danger that Chinese President Xi Jinping will invade Taiwan in the next five years, potentially choking off the chips used to power AI to U.S. companies. One Trump adviser said the trip signaled a much higher likelihood that Taiwan will be on the table in the next five years, adding that the chips supply chain will not be anywhere close to self-sufficiency. Trump loved the pageantry and special access Xi rolled out during the Beijing visit, but the words did not match the bonhomie.
Some close advisers to President Trump fear the biggest substantive result of the China summit is heightened danger that Chinese President Xi Jinping will invade Taiwan in the next five years, potentially choking off the chips used to power AI to U.S. companies.
Trump loved the pageantry and the special access Xi shrewdly rolled out during the Beijing visit, but the words did not match the bonhomie, one Trump adviser said. Xi is "trying to move China to a new position where he's saying: 'We're not a rising power. We're your equal. And Taiwan is mine,'" the adviser told reporters.
"This trip signaled a much higher likelihood that Taiwan will be on the table in the next five years," the adviser added. "There's no way we can be ready economically — the chips supply chain won't be anywhere close to self-sufficiency. For CEOs, and really the economy as a whole, there's no more pressing issue than the supply chain for chips."
Trump won praise from several CEOs for pushing very hard on Iran and Venezuela and opening markets. Some CEOs came away hopeful that their companies will get licenses to operate in China, and credited the president.