China would prefer not to take military action against Taiwan, Rubio said in an interview with NBC News, despite Beijing’s vow to use force if necessary to gain control over the self-ruling democracy it claims as its territory.
Taiwan is one of the most sensitive issues in relations between China and the U.S., which like most countries has no formal relations with the island but is its biggest international backer and arms supplier. During their meeting today, Xi warned Trump that disputes over Taiwan could jeopardize the U.S.-China relationship, leading to “clashes and even conflicts.”
“I think China’s preference is probably to have Taiwan willingly, voluntarily join them,” Rubio told Tom Llamas of “NBC Nightly News” today in Beijing. “In a perfect world, what they would want is some vote or a referendum in Taiwan that agrees to fold in.”
In an annual report in March, the U.S. intelligence community also said China would prefer to gain control of Taiwan peacefully and that there is no invasion planned for 2027, a year that has been frequently cited by U.S. military officials and others because of its symbolic value as the 100th anniversary of the People’s Liberation Army.
Trump also said last year that Xi has assured him he won’t take any action on Taiwan, which rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, while Trump is in office.
Rubio acknowledged that China has increased military pressure on Taiwan as part of a broader modernization push by Xi, who says he wants China to have a “world class” military by 2049.
“This pace of growth in the Chinese military over the last 10 years has no precedent, none,” he said. For its navy alone, which according to the Pentagon has more ships than the U.S. Navy, “they put billions and billions and billions of dollars in their system.”
But China is not ramping up its military just because of Taiwan, Rubio said: “I think they have ambitions to ultimately be able to project power globally the way the U.S. does.”
“They’re still behind us in that regard, but nonetheless, they are investing a lot of money,” he said, describing the Chinese military as the second-most powerful in the world.
