US President Donald Trump said this Wednesday that he will speak with Taiwan President Lai Ching-te, an unprecedented move for a US leader who could shake up US relations with China.
The presidents of the US and Taiwan have not spoken directly since Washington transferred diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979.
Beijing has never renounced the use of force to take control of the democratically governed island. She has been angered by the U.S.’s long-standing military support for Taiwan to deter Chinese military action.
“I’ll talk to him,” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland before boarding Air Force One when asked about Lai. ‘I talk to everyone… Let’s work on this, on the Taiwan problem.’
It is the second time in a week that Trump has said he intends to speak with Lai, dispelling initial speculation that his first mention of the subject following his meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping last week was a verbal slip-up.
A call between the leaders had not yet been scheduled, according to a person familiar with the matter.
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The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on when that call might take place or what would be discussed. China’s embassy in Washington also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump administration officials noted that Trump approved the sale of more weapons to Taiwan than any other U.S. president.
But he has also repeatedly praised his relationship with Xi as ‘incredible’.
Following last week’s trip to Beijing, Trump said he has not yet decided whether to proceed with a major arms sale worth up to $14 billion to Taiwan, raising uncertainty about US support for the island.
Any direct talks between the US and Taiwan would normally anger China, which views the island as its own territory.
However, Trump’s language has sent mixed signals to Taipei. Although Lai welcomed the chance to speak with Trump, the US president’s reference to the ‘Taiwan problem’ echoes Beijing’s phraseology.
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Lai, who is seen by Beijing as a separatist, said on Wednesday that if he had the opportunity to speak to Trump, he would say that his government is committed to maintaining the status quo in the Taiwan Strait and that it was China that was undermining peace with its massive military buildup in the Indo-Pacific.
‘No country has the right to annex Taiwan. The people of Taiwan seek a free and democratic way of life, and democracy and freedom should not be taken as a provocation,’said Lai.
Under US law, the US is obliged to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself, and both Republican and Democratic lawmakers have called on the Trump administration to continue arms sales.
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Underscoring Taiwan’s strategic importance to the US, the island of 23 million people is the US’ fourth-largest trading partner, behind China, which has 1.4 billion inhabitants. Much of this trade is based on exports to the US of advanced semiconductors, which power the global economy.
