By Bo Erickson
WASHINGTON, May 20 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he would speak with Taiwan President Lai Ching-te.
“I’ll speak to him,” Trump told reporters. “I speak to everybody. … We’ll work on that, the Taiwan problem.”
Trump’s openness to a conversation comes after his trip to China last week, which the U.S. president on Wednesday touted as “amazing.”
A conversation between Trump and Lai would be a significant diplomatic development as the U.S. and Taiwanese presidents have not spoken directly since Washington shifted diplomatic recognition to Beijing from Taipei in 1979.
(Reporting by Bo Erickson; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Michelle Nichols )
