Taiwan welcomes idea of Trump talking to its president, which would be a major break in protocol

HONG KONG — Taiwan’s foreign ministry said Thursday that President Lai Ching-te would welcome a conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump, following Trump’s statements that he intends to speak with the Taiwanese leader. No specific schedule for such a call has been announced, though Trump has referred to the possibility on two occasions in the past week.

“I’ll speak to him. I speak to everybody,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday. The remarks came after Trump completed a two-day visit to China, during which Taiwan was discussed with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. No U.S. president has held a direct conversation with a sitting Taiwanese president since the United States and China established diplomatic relations in 1979. The United States maintains unofficial relations with Taiwan under the Taiwan Relations Act and remains its primary source of defensive arms, while recognizing the government in Beijing as the sole legal representative of China.

China maintains that Taiwan is part of its territory and has stated it does not rule out the use of force to achieve unification. During last week’s meetings, Xi told Trump that differences over Taiwan could produce “clashes and even conflicts” if not managed carefully. Trump has stated that overall U.S. policy toward Taiwan remains unchanged. He has also indicated he has not yet decided on a pending arms package valued at approximately $14 billion and described the matter as a potential point of leverage in discussions with Beijing. Successive U.S. administrations have treated arms sales to Taiwan as a separate issue from bilateral talks with China.

China has urged the United States to shift its public position from one of non-support for Taiwan independence to explicit opposition. Trump has not adopted that phrasing. After the summit he said he wanted both sides to “cool down” and that he was “not looking to have somebody go independent.”

Lai, during a speech marking the second anniversary of his inauguration on Wednesday, said decisions about Taiwan’s future rest solely with its 23 million residents and cannot be dictated by outside actors. He expressed openness to talks with China provided they do not frame unification as a precondition for peace. At a subsequent news conference, Lai said he would use any opportunity to inform Trump that actions by China, rather than Taiwan, are the primary source of regional tension. He added that continued U.S. arms sales constitute a necessary element for preserving stability across the Taiwan Strait and that no country possesses the right to annex Taiwan.

Taiwan’s foreign ministry issued a statement Thursday repeating Lai’s remarks and confirming that the president would be prepared to discuss the issues directly with Trump. In response to questions about a possible call, China’s foreign ministry reiterated its opposition to official contacts between the United States and Taiwan and called on Washington to handle the matter with care.

Taiwan has experienced increased Chinese military activity near its territory in recent years. On Thursday the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense reported detecting seven Chinese military aircraft, seven naval vessels, and one official ship operating in the vicinity of the island during the preceding 24-hour period.

This would not be the first contact between Trump and a Taiwanese president. In December 2016, after his election but before taking office, Trump spoke by telephone with then-President Tsai Ing-wen. That exchange drew formal protests from Beijing.

Lev Nachman, a political scientist at National Taiwan University, said any conversation between Trump and Lai would occur against the backdrop of Trump’s recent public comments aligning with elements of China’s description of the situation. Nachman noted that Lai would likely focus on the defensive character of the proposed arms package and on Taiwan’s record of maintaining the existing status quo. He assessed the probability of an actual call occurring as low, given Trump’s stated priority of preserving stable relations with Beijing ahead of a planned visit by Xi to the United States later this year.

Taiwan’s government has consistently described its policy as preserving the status quo while expanding unofficial economic and security ties with the United States and other partners. U.S. law requires periodic reviews of Taiwan’s defensive needs, and arms sales have continued across multiple administrations regardless of the party in power in Washington.