The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) today said that President William Lai (賴清德) would be happy to speak with US President Donald Trump, in what would be an unprecedented conversation between the leader of the world's biggest economy and Taiwan.
The decision could roil Washington's relations with Beijing and help decide the fate of a massive arms package that the US is considering for Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as its own and has never renounced the use of force to bring it under its control.
Taiwanese and US presidents have not spoken directly since Washington shifted diplomatic recognition to Beijing from Taipei in 1979.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
Trump yesterday said that he would speak to Lai, the second time in a week he has done so, dispelling initial speculation that his first mention of it after meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) last week was a verbal slip.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterated comments Lai made yesterday that if he got the opportunity to speak to Trump, he would say that China is undermining peace and his government would keep the “status quo” across the Taiwan Strait.
"In addition to being committed to maintaining the stable status quo in the Taiwan Strait, President Lai is also happy to discuss these matters with President Trump," the ministry said, without elaborating.
It is still unclear when the talks might occur.
National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) told lawmakers that the government must "keep a low profile" for now on the topic of whether Lai would speak to Trump, and if there is any progress, it would be made public.
"If these communications and dialogues can continue to be elevated to higher levels, and if we can maintain a dialogue that contributes to regional peace and stability, this would be of great significance not only to Taiwan, but also to democratic nations and the Indo-Pacific region as a whole," he said.
In late 2016, Trump, at the time the president-elect, broke decades of US diplomatic precedent by speaking by telephone with then-Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
Trump, who last week met Xi in Beijing where Taiwan was a major focus of the talks, is weighing whether to approve a new arms sales package for the nation, which could be worth about US$14 billion.
The US is bound by the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself.
Speaking to reporters in the legislature, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said that the US has repeatedly reaffirmed that its policy toward Taiwan is unchanged.
In addition to peace and stability in the strait being a core US interest, providing Taiwan with defensive capabilities through arms sales in accordance with the Taiwan Relations Act is an established US policy, he added.
"Given that US policy toward Taiwan remains unchanged, I think we remain cautiously optimistic about arms purchases," Koo said.
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