Nikki Haley Advocates More U.S. Cooperation With Taiwan

Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley says that her trip to Taiwan is intended to show U.S. citizens why Taiwan matters.

Transcript

00:00Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and Republican presidential contender Nikki

00:05Haley says the war in Ukraine is a wake-up call for what could happen to Taiwan.

00:10Addressing the media here in Taipei, she says that it's important for the world and the

00:14U.S. to not get distracted about the threats facing Taiwan, highlighting China as the biggest

00:19threat.

00:20Brushing off comments from Trump about Taiwan not paying enough for its defense, she thinks

00:24that the U.S. needs to do more to offer help to deter a conflict in the Taiwan Strait.

00:29I think the United States should immediately increase its training that we do with the

00:34Taiwanese military on all aspects.

00:38I also think that we should increase the amount of weapons that we send to Taiwan so that

00:42they can be prepared.

00:45Haley has been in Taiwan for the past few days speaking at a forum here in Taipei advocating

00:49for Taiwan to become an observer in the U.N., also meeting with President Lai Ching-da.

00:54Her visit comes just a few months before the U.S. presidential elections.

00:58Haley, once a presidential contender, has thrown her support behind Donald Trump as

01:03she thinks he is the better choice for the U.S. to show strength in the face of China's

01:07aggression.

01:08In your speech at the Keloland Forum, you kind of made a case for a heavy U.S. presence

01:11in the world, went into alliances, strengthening alliances in support for Ukraine and Taiwan.

01:17And endorsing Donald Trump for president, he seems to have maybe different views on

01:20that issue, but do you think a second Donald Trump presidency would bring the U.S. closer

01:24to that role that you're envisioning rather than a Harris administration would?

01:28So it's not what I think, it's what I witnessed.

01:31And what I know is that we did show American strength in the world.

01:35And you saw that we pushed back against China.

01:38What I would assume is Kamala Harris is going to do exactly what Joe Biden has done.

01:42When Hamas invaded Israel, when Russia invaded Ukraine, where was Kamala Harris?

01:48She was in the Situation Room right next to Joe Biden.

01:51She was there making the exact same decisions.

01:54Those decisions have made the world less safe.

01:58Haley says that the goal of her trip is to show the United States why Taiwan matters,

02:02pointing to the country's leading semiconductor industry and management of the COVID-19 pandemic.

02:07At the end of the day, she says, it's not that Taiwan needs the United States, but that

02:11the United States needs Taiwan.

02:13Annie Xue and Jaime Ocon in Taipei for Taiwan Plus.