Taiwan would “welcome” an opportunity for its leader to speak with US President Donald Trump after he raised the possibility, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Chen Ming-chi (陳明祺) said yesterday.
Trump on Friday told reporters aboard Air Force One on the way back to Washington from a state visit to China that he had to speak to the person “that’s running Taiwan” — an apparent reference to President William Lai (賴清德) — about arms sales.
A conversation between Lai and Trump would be a major break in US diplomatic policy and risk a rupture with China.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Chen said the government was seeking confirmation from the US about whether Trump wanted to speak to Lai.
“We will use all channels to understand what the US side is actually thinking,” Chen told reporters.
“We would of course very much welcome it,” he said.
Photo: Screen grab from Face the Nation and CBS News’ YouTube channel
In 2016, shortly after his first election victory, Trump accepted a phone call from then-president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
It was the first call between a Taiwanese leader and an incoming or serving US president since Washington switched recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979.
Trump has suggested that arms sales to Taiwan could be used as a bargaining chip with China, which has threatened to seize the nation by force.
Lai and others in his government have pushed back, insisting that such sales are part of Washington’s security commitment to Taiwan.
The US is required under US law to make defense articles and services available to Taiwan, but it has maintained ambiguity about whether US forces would come to its aid.
Chen said Trump had created “some anxiety” in Taiwan and the government was using “all the communication channels to understand the real meaning behind” his remarks.
“So far our understanding is there is no change even in the arms sale,” Chen said, describing arms sales as the “cornerstone” of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.
Meanwhile, Representative to the US Alexander Yui (俞大?) said in Washington that Taiwan wants peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.
The issue of Taiwan was heavily discussed during Trump’s summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) last week, but Trump heard only China’s side of the story, Yui said in an interview on CBS’ Face the Nation broadcast on Sunday.
Taiwan is willing to explain its perspective, Yui said, describing Taiwan’s experience as a story of resilience and resistance against Chinese aggression.
Tensions across the Taiwan Strait have existed for 77 years and were not created by the current Democratic Progressive Party administration, he said.
Yui also expressed appreciation for statements made by Trump and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio during the Beijing trip that reaffirmed longstanding US policy toward Taiwan.
China has urged Washington to halt arms sales to Taiwan, but Trump said he had made no commitments favoring either side and would decide on a pending arms package “within a fairly short period of time.”
In a Fox News interview aired on Friday, Trump described the proposed arms package as “a very good negotiating chip.”
Trump also said it would be “very wise” for both Taiwan and China to “cool things down a little.”
Asked about the remarks, Yui said he interpreted them as reflecting a desire to maintain the “status quo,” meaning no changes to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait through economic or military coercion.
“The formal name of my country is Republic of China, and we’re not subordinate to the People’s Republic of China [PRC] in any way, at all, and that’s maintaining our sovereignty, our way of life, our democracy, our vibrant economy, our high-tech production,” Yui told Face the Nation.
Yui stressed that Taiwan does not want war.
He likened Taiwan’s defense preparations to preventing an intruder from invading a home.
“We’re trying to beef up our security system,” Yui said. “And then they complain, the intruder complains that because we’re trying to improve our security system it’s making his job harder.”
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