Trump: Xi promised me he wouldn't do anything about Taiwan while I'm in office

US President Donald Trump said Chinese President Xi Jinping had assured him that Beijing would not take action on its long-stated goal of reunification with Taiwan while the Republican leader is in office, the Associated Press reported.

Trump said the long-standing dispute over Taiwan was not discussed during his talks with Xi on Thursday in South Korea, which focused mainly on trade tensions between the US and China. The American leader, however, expressed confidence that China would not take action regarding Taiwan while he is in power.

“He has openly said and his people have openly said in meetings that “they will never take anything while Trump is president“ because they know what the consequences will be“, Trump said in an excerpt from an interview for the CBS program “60 Minutes“ broadcast today.

American authorities have long had concerns about the possibility of China using military force against Taiwan – a self-governing island that Beijing considers part of its territory, the AP reported.

The 1979 U.S. Taiwan Relations Act, which governs the country's relations with the island, does not require the United States to intervene militarily if China attacks it, but it does explicitly state that Taiwan must have the resources to defend itself and take action to prevent any unilateral change in its status by Beijing.

Trump evaded a question in an interview excerpt today about whether he would order U.S. forces to defend Taiwan if China attacks it.

Presidential administrations from both major U.S. parties have pursued a policy of "strategic ambiguity" regarding Taiwan and are keen not to reveal whether the United States would come to the island's aid in such a scenario, the AP notes.

A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington did not directly respond to a request for comment on whether Trump had received any assurances regarding Taiwan from Xi or Chinese officials. A statement from the embassy said China "will never allow anyone or any force to separate Taiwan from China in any way."

"The Taiwan issue is China's internal matter and is at the core of the country's core interests. How to resolve the Taiwan issue is a matter that concerns the Chinese people themselves and only the Chinese can decide on it," the statement added.