With the Taliban now in control of Afghanistan without a fight under President Joe Biden's unconditional withdrawal, former President Donald Trump told Newsmax a China takeover of Taiwan "could happen."
"There was never a threat of them attacking Taiwan when I was president," Trump told Tuesday's "Rob Schmitt Tonight" in an exclusive interview. "There was never a threat.
"Now, everybody's talking about it. They didn't talk about it when I was president. It wasn't going to happen."
Host Rob Schmitt asked Trump about the potential for a Chinese takeover of Taiwan after Taiwan's defense ministry reported 19 Chinese aircraft, including nuclear-capable bombers, had flown into Taiwan's air defense identification zone recently.
Trump said that emboldened action came because Chinese President Xi Jinping saw an opportunity amid U.S. military "incompetence and weakness" on the world stage amid the events unfolding in Afghanistan.
"It could happen," Trump said of a potential of a China takeover in Taiwan under Xi. "When he looks at Afghanistan, when he looks at the incompetence of our television generals."
Trump noted his rebuke of U.S. generals was limited to the Biden administration officials talking on TV amid the Afghanistan withdrawal and not the "phenomenal" leaders on the ground.
"We have great generals," Trump said. "When I took out ISIS, they were phenomenal.
"But you don't see them on television. They're not the television generals."
Xi has to see this is an opportunity, Trump concluded.
"When he sees what you and I are looking at, the incompetence and the weakness, it could happen," he said.
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Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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