TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Former President Donald Trump was noncommital when asked on Sunday (Sept. 17) whether he would dispatch troops to Taiwan if China launched an invasion of the country.

During an interview with Kristen Welker on the NBC News program "Meet the Press," Trump spoke about abortion rights, his legal woes, the economy, and the Russo-Ukrainian War. Asked whether he would send the military to help defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack, Trump refused to reveal his strategy.

Welker asked Trump if he made a deal between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy whether it would run the risk of emboldening China to attack Taiwan. Trump denied this would be the case because of his alleged "great relationship" with Chinese leader Xi Jinping (習近平), "until we had the China virus come in."

Trump claimed that before he lost the 2020 U.S. presidential election, Xi was going to restrict exports of fentanyl to the U.S. He said that Xi would have imposed the death penalty on fentanyl dealers in China, but "never had to do that" after Trump lost his reelection bid.

Welker then asked that if China were to invade Taiwan whether he would "send the U.S. military into Taiwan." Welker pointed out that President Joe Biden has pledged (four times) that he will dispatch troops to Taiwan if China attacks.

Trump responded by saying, "I won't say, I won't say, because if I said, I'm giving away ... you know, only stupid people are going to give that (away)." Taking a jab at Ron DeSantis, Trump criticized him for revealing his strategy on issues.

Trump said that he refused to respond directly to questions of that nature because it would "give away all of your options." Welker then asked Trump to confirm that he would not take the use of force against China off the table, to which he responded, "I don't take anything off the table."

Trump's stance on a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan is similar to the policy of strategic ambiguity that the U.S. has followed since 1979. The policy intentionally makes it unclear as to whether the U.S. will respond militarily to a Chinese attack on Taiwan to serve as a deterrent while seeking to avoid inflaming tensions with Beijing.