TAIPEI — Lin Fei-fan led the charge nearly three years ago when hundreds of students occupied Taiwan’s legislature to protest a trade deal with China. With the island’s economy increasingly tied to the mainland and Beijing’s global influence on the rise, he worried that Taiwan’s independence was at stake.

Now, thanks to a couple of sentences uttered by Donald Trump on a talk show, Lin has new hope.

The president-elect stunned many diplomats Sunday by suggesting he might abandon the One China principle, the bedrock understanding under which the United States established relations with Beijing and cut official ties with Taiwan nearly four decades ago. His apparent willingness to rethink long-standing US policy that prioritizes China over Taiwan has energized Lin, 28, and many like him. But it has also left them anxious, and asking:

What does it mean for one’s homeland to be put on the table by Trump, an inveterate deal-maker, in negotiations with China’s communist leaders, who are not known for making concessions easily?

“Many people in Taiwan worry that once Trump takes office, he’ll make a U-turn,’’ Lin said. “We are suspicious of his motivations.’’

Even as he has elevated Taiwan’s status by speaking with its president, Trump has left the impression that he sees the island primarily as leverage to extract compromises from China on other issues.

“I don’t know why we have to be bound by a One China policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade,’’ he said before also citing Beijing’s military buildup in the disputed South China Sea and its support for North Korea.

The comments have both exhilarated and unnerved the Taiwanese, who yearn for greater international recognition but have long been worried about being sacrificed as a pawn in a geopolitical chess game.

Many have applauded Trump, describing his decision to break protocol and speak by phone with Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan’s leader, as an overdue gesture toward one of Washington’s most reliable friends in Asia and a young democracy.