Donald Trump declined to tell Xi Jinping whether the US would defend Taiwan against Chinese attack, he has told reporters. The US president said the Chinese leader asked directly during their two-day summit in Beijing whether Washington would defend the self-governing territory, which Beijing sees as a breakaway province, but he did not give an answer. “There's only one person that knows that, and it is me,” Mr Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he returned to the US on Friday.