Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te delivers a speech to mark his second anniversary in office during a press conference in Taipei, Taiwan, Wednesday, Wednesday. AP-Yonhap
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would speak with Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te, an unprecedented move for a U.S. leader that could roil U.S. relations with China.
U.S. and Taiwanese presidents have not spoken directly since Washington shifted diplomatic recognition to Beijing from Taipei in 1979.
Beijing has never renounced the use of force to take control of the democratically governed island. It has been angered by longstanding U.S. military support for Taiwan to deter Chinese military action.
"I'll speak to him," Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland before boarding Air Force One when asked about Lai. "I speak to everybody ... We'll work on that, the Taiwan problem."
