Taipei, Taiwan - Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te on Thursday said he'd be "happy" to speak with President Donald Trump, a move that would break with four decades of diplomatic tradition and likely anger Beijing.
Lai's comments came after Trump told reporters on Wednesday that he would speak with Taiwan's leadership directly, as the White House continues to weigh major arms sales to the self-governed island.
"Well, I'll speak to him, I speak to everybody," Trump said. "We have that situation very well in hand, we had a great meeting with President Xi, it was amazing actually… We'll work on that, the Taiwan problem."
It was the second time since last week's summit in Beijing, during which Trump held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, that the US leader has said that he will call Lai.
If such communications go ahead, it would be the first time that a sitting US president would speak directly with their Taiwanese counterpart since Washington switched diplomatic relations from Taipei to Beijing in 1979.
In a statement released by Taiwan's Foreign Ministry on Thursday, Lai said the country was "committed to maintaining the stable status quo in the Taiwan Strait" and that "China is the disruptor of peace and stability."
Lai would be "happy to discuss these matters with President Trump," the statement said.
After wrapping up his trip to Beijing, Trump suggested arms sales to Taiwan could be used as a bargaining chip with China, and warned Taipei against declaring formal independence.
Since then, Lai's government has been on the offensive, insisting that US policy toward Taiwan has not changed and that Trump made no commitments to China on its sale of arms to the island.