Lawmakers Don’t Know If They Can Trust Trump to Protect Taiwan

Some members are trying to prepare for China’s potential invasion of Taiwan.

Donald Trump, Xi Jinping AP-17313325621845
Donald Trump hasn’t said how he would handle it if Chinese leader Xi Jinping invaded Taiwan. Andy Wong/AP

Lawmakers are increasingly alarmed by Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s aggression against Taiwan — and by the possibility a war could break out during a second Donald Trump presidency.

They have no idea how Trump — already the de facto GOP presidential nominee — would handle it, and some members from both parties are hoping to prepare now so even Trump’s chaotic, isolationist foreign policy wouldn’t become catastrophic for Taiwan.

Trump is “irrational, he’s unstable, he’s a dangerous human being,” Rep. Jim McGovern, a Massachusetts Democrat and member of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, told NOTUS.