the white house later walked back those remarks but now taiwan's president tells cnn she is confident the u.s. would step up if beijing tried to make a move on the democratic island. those comments coming from the president's first international tv interview in nearly two years where she also tells our will ripley the threat from china is increasing every single day. >> reporter: at this temple in taipei, prayer and politics go hand in hand for taiwan president tsai ing-wen. >> normally when i go to the temple, there are hundreds of people there. i will shake hands with each one of them. >> people are remarkably happy, at ease. >> you have to get a sense that there's somebody there to take care of them. >> reporter: elected in 2016, tsai won re-election by a landslide last year on a promise to keep people safe from what she calls a growing threat across the taiwan strait. is taiwan more safe today than it was when you became president