Nicolas Asfouri/AFP via Getty Images
- Former President Donald Trump said he thinks China will invade Taiwan sooner rather than later.
- Following the invasion of Ukraine, Trump said that Taiwan was "next."
- He also praised Chinese leader Xi Jinping for being "a man with high intelligence level."
Former President Donald Trump thinks China might be motivated to invade Taiwan, given what he says is weakness shown by the Biden administration in handling the US' pullout from Afghanistan and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
On Wednesday, Trump was asked by Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo if he thought China would invade Taiwan sooner rather than later.
"I do because they're seeing how stupid the United States is run. They're seeing that our leaders are incompetent. And of course, they're going to do it. This is their time," he replied. "They did nothing on Ukraine. They do nothing."
Trump also took aim at President Joe Biden's handling of the Ukraine crisis. "Biden said such weak statements at the beginning that Putin said 'Oh wow, this is my time to go,'" he said.
Since Russia's invasion began a week ago, the US and many other Western nations have imposed heavy sanctions on Russia, which have hammered its economy. In his State of the Union speech on Tuesday, Biden also announced that the US would be closing its airspace to Russian aircraft and claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin "has no idea what's coming."
Trump told Bartiromo that, following the invasion of Ukraine, Taiwan is "going to be next." He went on to describe China's President Xi Jinping as being "a man with high intelligence level."
"He looks at what happened in Afghanistan. The way we pulled out," Trump said, referring to the US' chaotic withdrawal from the country in August.
"And this is his opportunity to do what he wants to do, which is huge, and he's wanted to do that. And China has wanted to do that for decades," he added.
On Wednesday, a delegation of former US officials arrived in Taiwan and met President Tsai Ing-wen in Taipei in a show of support for the island.
China has long claimed Taiwan as part of its territory. In January, China's Ambassador to the US Qin Gang told NPR that the island represents the "biggest tinderbox between China and the United States."
"If the Taiwanese authorities, emboldened by the United States, keep going down the road for independence, it most likely will involve China and the United States, the two big countries, in a military conflict," he said, per NPR.
Meanwhile, Trump has continued to claim that the Ukrainian crisis would never have happened on his watch baselessly. He has also slammed the Biden administration for its alleged "stupidity" and "incompetence," which he says led to the Russian invasion.
Trump was impeached in 2019 for withholding nearly $400 million in vital military aid from Ukraine. While in office, Trump also repeatedly bashed NATO and raised the possibility of the US leaving the alliance.
Insider's live blog of the Russian invasion of Ukraine is covering developments as they happen.
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