Taiwan President Tsai urged Xi Jingpin to act like an international leader

Reuters’ Asian bureau interviewed president Tsai at the Presidential Building on April 27.   During the interview, Tsai Said “China now needs to have its own sense of responsibility.  I hope Chairman Xi Jingpin, as a leader of a large country and who sees himself as a leader, can show a pattern and flexibility, use a different angle to look at cross-Strait relations, and allow the future of cross-strait ties to have a different kind of pattern”.    Regarding her brief phone conversation with President Trump, President Tsai said “We have the opportunity to communicate more directly with the U.S. government.  We don’t exclude the opportunity to call president Trump himself, but it depends on the needs of the situation and the U.S. government’s consideration of regional affairs”.  The first Tsai-Trump call angered China.  However, its positive effect is China took Trump’s action seriously and decided to play fair game with U.S. government.  After Trump-Xi meeting in early April, President Trump expected China will do more to reduce the tension between U.S. and North Korea.  Reuters’s Washington bureau also interviewed President Trump at the White House several hours later.  When Reuters asked Trump about the possibility of another Tsai-Trump call, Trump said “Well, my problem is that I’ve established a very good personal relationship with President Xi.  And I really feel that he is doing everything in his power to help us with a big situation, so I wouldn’t want to cause difficulty right now for him…So I would certainly want to speak to him first”.   Reuters requested an interview with Tsai because President Tsai nears her first anniversary in office.  President Trump also nears his 100 days in office, Reuters felt it was a good time to conduct an exclusive interview with Trump.  After the interviews, Reuters immediately published two reports, using two sensational headlines.  The first headline was “Taiwan president says phone call with Trump can take place again”.  The second headline was “Trump spurns Taiwan president’s suggestion of another phone call”.   The headlines gave the impression that Trump flatly rejected Tsai’s request.  The Reuters’ headline did draw criticisms from Taiwan because it misrepresents Tsai’s view and Trump’s response.   Reuters issued ”regrets and apologies” over these news coverages.