United States President Donald Trump has sent a direct warning to Taiwan not to take steps towards formally declaring independence from China, just hours after the end of a two-day summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.
"I'm not asking anyone to declare independence," Trump said in an interview with Fox News, signaling that Washington does not want an escalation of tensions in the region.
Trump stressed that during his talks with Xi Jinping, "no commitments were made on either side" on the issue of Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing considers part of its territory and for which it has not ruled out the use of force.
For decades, the US has supported Taiwan, including with military supplies for self-defense, but at the same time has tried to maintain diplomatic balance with China through the "One China" policy.
The official American position remains that Washington does not support the formal independence of Taiwan, while relations with Beijing are based on the acceptance that there is only one Chinese government.
However, a large part of the population in Taiwan considers itself a separate nation, although the majority continues to support maintaining the status quo, without an official declaration of independence and without unification with China.
In his interview, Trump reiterated that US policy towards Taiwan has not changed, while speaking out against involvement in a new military conflict in Asia.
"We're supposed to travel thousands of kilometers to fight a war. I'm not asking for that. I want things to calm down. I want China to calm down," he declared.
