Chinese President Xi Jinping was “impressed” by the speed and precision of the U.S. military operation to capture Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro but is not likely to copy the commando raid against Taiwan, President Trump said this week.
Asked by a reporter if the military action against the oil-rich South American nation could set a precedent for a similar attack by China against Taiwan, or by Russia against more of Ukraine or Eastern Europe, Mr. Trump dismissed the concerns.
“No, because this is, this was a real threat,” he said during an interview with the New York Times.
In Taiwan, “you didn’t have people pouring into China. You didn’t have drugs pouring into China. You didn’t have all of the bad things that we’ve had [from Venezuela],” he said.
“You didn’t have the jails of Taiwan opened up and the people pouring into China. There aren’t that many people in the jails, but you didn’t have hundreds of thousands of people coming from jails and mental institutions. Or pouring into Russia,” he said.
U.S. justifications for the Jan. 3 raid on Venezuela include accusations that the country ships illicit drugs into the U.S., releases prisoners into the U.S. and controls members of the criminal gang Tren de Aragua in the U.S.
SEE ALSO: U.S. seizes oil tanker suspected of carrying embargoed Venezuelan oil in Caribbean
The Justice Department indictment of Mr. Maduro states that the ousted leader and several confederates have worked together since 1999 with communist revolutionaries, “narco-terrorists,” violent drug traffickers and Tren de Aragua “to distribute tons of cocaine to the United States.”
The president hailed the U.S. military operation involving 150 warplanes and helicopter-borne Delta Force special operations commandos as a major demonstration of American power in the region.
Mr. Trump said he worried the operation could become a “Jimmy Carter disaster. That destroyed his entire administration,” a reference to the failed U.S. hostage rescue mission in April 1980 that sought to win the release of 82 American hostages.
That operation was derailed after the collision between a military helicopter and an aircraft in the desert.
The success of the Venezuela raid was also in sharp contrast to what Mr. Trump said was the “Afghanistan disaster” under President Biden that resulted in a terrorist bombing in Kabul that killed 13 U.S. service members and left behind more than $7 billion in U.S. military equipment.
By contrast, the operation against Venezuela was nearly flawless, with no casualties or loss of military aircraft.
“He was impressed,” Mr. Trump said on the Chinese leader’s reaction to the raid.
When a reporter asked if Mr. Xi views self-ruled island Taiwan as posing a threat of separatism for the mainland, Mr. Trump said the Chinese Communist Party leader regards Taiwan as a “source of pride.”
“He considers it to be a part of China, and that’s up to him what he’s going to be doing,” Mr. Trump said of long-standing fears that China will launch a military assault against the island in the next several years.
Mr. Trump said he warned Mr. Xi that “I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don’t think he’ll do that. I hope he doesn’t.”
China may carry out a blockade or invasion under a different U.S. president, he said, “But I don’t think he’s going to do it with me as president.”
Mr. Trump announced in August that he was informed by Mr. Xi that China would not invade Taiwan during his presidency and said, “We’ll see.”
The Pentagon and U.S. Indo-Pacific Command have invested heavily in developing niche military capabilities, such as large numbers of aerial and naval drones that they hope will alter the calculus for the Chinese military about the heavy costs of conducting a seaborne assault on Taiwan.
The commander of the command, Adm. Sam Paparo, has called his strategy a “hellscape” that would use thousands of drones to sink Chinese warships and defeat its airpower.
Military commanders have said Mr. Xi has set 2027 as the date for the People’s Liberation Army to conduct an assault on Taiwan.
The Chinese leader has called a takeover of Taiwan a “core” national interest.
In May, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned in a speech that the threat of a Chinese invasion is real and “could be imminent.”
Any attack and attempt to conquer Taiwan would produce “devastating consequences,” and Mr. Hegseth called the threat posed by China “real.”
Since then, senior Trump officials have scaled back rhetoric as part of an effort to stabilize relations and reach a trade deal with Beijing.
Mr. Trump met with Mr. Xi in South Korea in October, and the two leaders sought to come to terms on U.S. tariffs on China, export controls on advanced semiconductors, China’s restrictions on rare earth minerals and promises to purchase U.S. soybeans.
• Bill Gertz can be reached at bgertz@washingtontimes.com.
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