TAIPEI: Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te said Thursday (May 21) he would be "happy" to talk to US leader Donald Trump, a conversation that would break more than four decades of diplomatic protocol and drew pre-emptive ire from China.
Trump told reporters on Wednesday (May 20) that he would speak to Lai, as the White House weighs arms sales to the democratic island.
It was the second time since a summit in Beijing last week that Trump has said he would call the Taiwanese leader.
Such communication would be the first time since Washington switched diplomatic relations from Taipei to Beijing in 1979 that serving presidents of Taiwan and the United States would speak to each other.
Lai said Taiwan was "committed to maintaining the stable status quo in the Taiwan Strait" and that "China is the disruptor of peace and stability", the Taiwanese foreign ministry said in a statement.
- China 'firmly opposes' call -
Lai would be "happy to discuss these matters with President Trump", the statement said.
"I'll speak to him. I speak to everybody," Trump said, adding that he had a great meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his state visit to Beijing last week.
"We'll work on that, the Taiwan problem," Trump said.
China's foreign ministry said Thursday it "firmly opposes official exchanges" between the United States and Taiwan, as well as US arms sales to the island.
"China urges the United States to implement the important consensus reached during the meeting between the Chinese and US heads of state, honour its commitments and statements, handle the Taiwan question with the utmost prudence," ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a press briefing.
He added that Washington should "stop sending wrong signals" to Taiwan.
After wrapping up his trip to Beijing, Trump suggested arms sales to Taiwan could be used as a bargaining chip with China, which claims the island is part of its territory and has threatened to seize it by force.
Since then, Lai's government has been on the offensive, insisting that US policy on Taiwan has not changed and that Trump made no commitments to China on arms sales to the island.
Taiwan relies heavily on US support to deter any potential Chinese attack, and has been under intense pressure to increase its spending through investment in American firms.
In 2016, shortly after his first election victory, president-elect Trump accepted a phone call from then Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen, angering Beijing and stunning diplomats, world leaders and China watchers. - AFP
