TAIPEI, May 27 (Reuters) – Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said on Wednesday the island hopes to strengthen ties with the United States and ensure peace in the Taiwan Strait, speaking at an event with Raymond Greene, Washington’s top diplomat in Taipei.
The issue of Chinese-claimed Taiwan was a major topic when U.S. President Donald Trump met China’s Xi Jinping in Beijing this month, and Trump’s comment about using arms sales to Taipei as a “negotiating chip” has unnerved the island.
Trump also said he is still considering whether to approve a new arms sales package for Taiwan, and said he would speak with Taiwan President Lai, though that has yet to happen.
“I have always believed that freedom brings our distance closer, and democracy makes our friendship even tighter,” Lai said, describing Taiwan’s relationship with the U.S. as “rock-solid” and calling for deeper economic cooperation.
Taiwan hopes to ensure peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, and will not allow any force to change the status quo by force or coercion, he said.
The U.S. has traditionally been democratically governed Taiwan’s most important international backer and is bound by the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act to provide the island with the means to defend itself.
China, which has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control and increased its military presence around the island, has repeatedly demanded the U.S. weapons sales stop.
Taiwan’s government rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, saying only the island’s people can decide their future.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Toby Chopra and Philippa Fletcher)
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