US President Donald Trump says he will talk to Taiwanese leader Lai Ching-te about a possible arms sale, in what would be a sharp departure from diplomatic tradition.
US and Taiwanese leaders have not spoken directly since 1979 – when Washington severed formal ties with Taiwan to recognise the Chinese government in Beijing.
China claims Taiwan as its territory and has not ruled out taking it by force. The US has long supported the self-ruled island and is bound by law to provide it with a means of self-defence, but has balanced this with maintaining diplomatic relations with China.
As president-elect in 2016, Trump took a phone call from Taiwan’s then leader Tsai Ing-wen, angering Beijing.
President Lai, who took office in 2024, is behind one of the strongest pushes in years to strengthen the island’s defence.
When asked on Wednesday if he planned to speak to Lai ahead of making a decision on US arms sales, Trump said: “I’ll speak to him. I speak to everybody.. we’ll work on that, the Taiwan problem.”
He also hailed his relationship with China’s President Xi as “amazing”, on the back of a two-day summit in Beijing last week.
When asked about the potential conversation between Trump and Lai, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Thursday that China “firmly opposes official exchanges between the United States and Taiwan”, as well as US arms sales to Taiwan.
China urges the US to “stop sending wrong signals to the separatist forces in Taiwan,” the spokesperson said.
In 1979, the US passed the Taiwan Relations Act which states that the US can “provide Taiwan with arms of a defensive character” – which is why it continues to sell weapons to Taiwan.
Credit: bbc.com
