Taiwan sees more opportunities than threats in Trump's China policy: FM

Taipei, March 3 (CNA) Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the confrontational policy of the second Donald Trump presidency toward China is more of an opportunity for Taiwan than a threat.

"The main focus of Trump's second term is in countering China," Lin said during an interview with an online media outlet aired on Sunday night.

Although countering China does not necessarily mean supporting Taiwan, the Trump administration's stance gives Taiwan the opportunity to find common interests, Lin said.

"Taiwan's foreign policy is not formulated on U.S. interests but is rather based on Taiwan's interests," Lin said.

For Taiwan's national interests, the government is finding interests shared with Washington and focusing on pushing policies where the interests of both countries are aligned, he noted.

Lin noted that during his presidential campaign, Trump made some controversial remarks about Taiwan, including accusing the nation of "stealing" the chip industry from the U.S. decades ago.

He also repeatedly expressed frustration that Taipei does not pay the U.S. to fund its defense.

Taiwan needs to take Trump's words "seriously but not literally," Lin said.

In response to Trump's complaint, President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) announced last month that his government aims to increase defense spending to 3 percent of Taiwan's gross domestic product this year, the minister said.

Lin said he is optimistic about the Trump administration's foreign policy, as much of the ongoing Taiwan-U.S. cooperation in the Biden administration began in Trump's first term from 2016-2020, and many of Trump's senior members of national security team are Taiwan-friendly.

"Trump 2.0 has so far showed more continuity in its policy than variability," the minister said, adding that Trump's second term is offering Taiwan "more opportunities than threats."

Meanwhile, asked about U.S. State Department's recent decision to remove a line indicating Washington's long-held stance of not supporting Taiwan independence from a bilateral relations fact sheet, and whether that means stronger Washington support for Taipei, Lin said he does not believe Taiwan needs to "over interpret" the move.

He said Taiwan needs to be more "practical" instead of overreacting to the fact sheet wording.

However, he still sees it is a good sign showing one needs to move away from the U.S.-Taiwan-China trilateral relations framework established during the Cold War and view U.S.-China and U.S.-Taiwan relations separately so that China does not have a say in Taiwan-U.S. interactions.

Lin made the comments during an interview with a local pundit for the latter's online talk show.