Rubio warns of ‘TERRIBLE MISTAKE’ after China summit

President Trump is now on his way home, boarding Air Force One this morning after his historic summit with Xi Jinping.

Two years seeming to have productive talks on issues like trade and investing in America, but other issues like Taiwan, still a tense flashpoint.You're watching Fox and Friends, first here on a Friday morning after a very busy week.I'm Todd Pyro.

And I'm Carly Schimke.So much to break down this morning, and we start with Douglas Zeder, who is live in Washington, with all the details from President Trump's latest movements overnight.Hi, Doug.

Carly and Todd, good morning.The president is on the long flight back to the United States this morning after wrapping up this summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.He's already touting new trade deals and says Xi has offered to help India.end the war in Iran, but other issues remain unresolved.Let's start with Iran.Before he left China, the president told Sean Hannity that Xi did offer assistance in ending the conflict, saying China agrees that Iran can never possess a nuclear weapon and that the Strait of Hormuz should reopen, just as reports emerged that another ship was attacked and another was seized.

We did discuss Iran.We feel very similar to Iran.We want that to end.And we don't want them to have a nuclear weapon.We want the straits open.We're closing it now.

They closed it, then we closed it on top of them.But we want the straits open.And we want them to get it ended, because it's a crazy thing.They're a little bit crazy.And that's no good.Can't have it.

They cannot have a nuclear weapon.

And the president says he got a commitment that China would not give Iran what he called military equipment.

When you say support, they're not fighting a war with us, are they?

No.

He said he's not going to give military equipment.That's a big statement.He said that today.That's a big statement.He said that strongly.But at the same time, he said, you know, they buy a lot of their oil there and they don't

to keep doing that.

And the president really wanted to focus on new deals with China, including the sales of Boeing aircraft, soybeans and other American goods.But Xi said very early on that the number one issue between the U .S.and China was Taiwan, the independently governed island that China lays claim to.His language was pretty pointed in that regard, but there's no indication that U .S.

policy toward Taiwan has changed.We will not have to wait too long for a follow -up meeting.The president has invited Xi to visit the U .S.in September.

Carly and Todd.It's a home and home series here on the diplomatic front.Douglas Ader, thank you.With that, let us bring in Gatestone Institute Senior Fellow Gordon Chang.And Gordon, we're going to pick up where Doug left off, the major issue of Taiwan.Did anything materially change with respect to Taiwan following the summit?

One word answer, no.It was very clear.Although Xi Jinping issued those very stark words, You know, Secretary of State Rubio was very clear, U .S.policy has not changed.And so, I think we're going to see very little in the way of China action on Taiwan.

The problem here for Xi Jinping is that his military is not ready to invade, and the United States is standing firm.The people in Taiwan, they want good relations with Beijing, but they don't self -identify as Chinese.They see themselves as Taiwanese.I think the status quo will continue.And the status quo is great for the United States.It's great for Taiwan.

And it's great for the free world.You mentioned Secretary of State Marco Rubio talking about the United States' current stance when it comes to Taiwan.

Here he is doing just that.U .S.policy on the issue of Taiwan is unchanged as of today and as of the meeting that we had here today.It was raised.They always raise it on their side.

We always make clear our position and we move on to the next step.I think China's preference is probably to have Taiwan willingly, voluntarily join them.We think it would be a terrible mistake to force that through force or anything of that nature.There would be repercussions for that globally, not just from the United States.

There was an $11 billion arms sale, Gordon, that was approved in December.Has not yet been fulfilled.Another $14 billion one that's awaiting approval.These weapons would be sold to Taiwan.I'm sure that one of Xi Jinping's goals was to make sure that this arms sale doesn't go through.So what does the president, what does President Trump do here regarding these arms?

We're just going to have to wait and see.And that really is the answer for most issues following this summit.You know Carly, most summits are canned.Everything is decided before the foreign leader arrives in Beijing.This one wasn't.There was actually work done in those discussions among Chinese and U .

S.officials.So, I think what we're going to see going on are a number of announcements on things.And one of them is that there will be an announcement on the new arms package at some point.The Chinese are very intransigent on a lot of things.We heard some pretty defiant words from Xi Jinping on Thursday, dismissive of the United States.

So, I think that essentially we're going to see the Trump administration impose costs on China, just as China's been imposing costs on us in the run -up to the summit, and I think that that will continue afterwards.The competition continues, and this is going to be, I think, good for the United States.

Gordon, I'm trying to view Taiwan through the lens of the average American, because we always talk about it in the abstract.The average American, you're told, you need to care about Taiwan.But why?Why should the average American care about something so abstract?Is it all about sort of that key test of American credibility on the world stage?Or is it something as tangible as like, we need all the semiconductors to do what we want to do?

Why does the average American care, Gordon?

Okay, first of all, one Taiwanese company makes 92 % of the world's most sophisticated semiconductors.The other 8 % are made in South Korea, which is going hard left right now.So if the U .S.wants a future with semiconductors, then we are going to have to defend Taiwan.But it's much more than that.

You know, Todd, you mentioned U .S.credibility.After the catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan, a key test of U .S.credibility and resolve is our willingness to defend the free society of Taiwan.

But we also got to remember that Taiwan sits in the middle of our Western defense perimeter, something that we drew in the 1800s.And Taiwan prevents the Chinese Navy and Air Force from surging into the Western Pacific.And there are other reasons, as well.We know China's attacking democracy.We cannot allow the Chinese to absorb any democracy, especially one as important as Taiwan, because there would be inevitable propaganda saying that the U .S.

was finished.We know this because we heard that after the fall of Afghanistan.So this is, from many different perspectives, we need to defend Taiwan.And by the way, because the Chinese aren't ready to invade it yet, this is a great time to sell Taiwan everything that it wants.

Yeah, well, the president right now on Air Force One.This was his seventh face -to -face meeting with Xi Jinping.Describes their relationship as very good, even a friendship.With all of that in mind and the president heading back to Washington, D .C.now, what would you say your top takeaway, your major headline from this trip after all is said and done is?

We will only know that as these agreements are announced, and it's going to take some time for China and the United States to hammer them out.One thing that I'd like to see immediately would be justI'm We need to protect those people that China is persecuting mercilessly.And we got to know that Jimmy is 77 years old.He's in very poor health.He's held in really miserable conditions in Hong Kong.

I'd like to see President Trump with a renewed effort to get him free.

Yeah, it seems like President Trump does have capacity to get people in these kind of situations free.We'll see if it happens to Jimmy.Gordon Chang, thank you as always for your insight.We appreciate it, sir.

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