U.S. President Donald Trump said he would speak to Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te (賴清德), but did not specify when. That came in an answer to a reporter’s question at the Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Wednesday, May 20.

Trump was asked if he had plans to speak to Lai before making his decision on allowing arms sales to Taiwan. He answered that he would “speak to everybody.” Trump added that he had the situation in hand, and that he had a great meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). He said he would jointly work on the “Taiwan problem.”

Following the Trump-Xi summit earlier in May, Trump said he would make a decision on the latest, US$14 billion arms package for Taiwan in the near future, but did not specify a time frame. 

According to Reuters, a conversation between Trump and Lai would be the first direct dialogue between U.S. and Taiwanese presidents since the United States established diplomatic relations with China in 1979.