On Thursday, Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that President Lai Ching-te is willing to speak with U.S. President Trump by phone.
Since the United States severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan and established relations with mainland China in 1979, there has only been one brief phone conversation between the leaders of Taiwan and the U.S. in the past 47 years: In 2016, then-Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen called to congratulate Trump after his first election victory.
When asked by reporters on Wednesday whether he planned to call Lai Ching-te, Trump responded, "I would talk to him. I talk to everyone." However, he did not specify when such a conversation might take place.
Trump had previously stated that he would talk to whoever governs Taiwan, but did not specify whom he meant.
Trump added: "We had a great handle on the situation. We had great meetings with President Xi... We will handle the Taiwan issue."