China files complaint over Donald Trump’s call with Taiwan president

TAIPEI, Taiwan | Government officials and analysts here are celebrating behind the scenes over President Tsai Ing-wen’s phone conversation with President-elect Donald Trump, even as concerns mount over potential fallout with China, where authorities expressed outrage over the development over the weekend.

Mr Trump’s conversation with President Tsai Ing-wen drew an irritated, but understated response from China, with foreign minister Wang Yi saying the contact was “just a small trick by Taiwan” that he believed would not change USA policy towards Beijing.

Meanwhile, the Global Times newspaper, which is published by the same group that publishes the Communist Party’s flagship People’s Daily, said Mr Trump may have been keen to test how China would react by taking the call, “and therefore prepare him for dealing with the country and gaining some advantage after he takes office”. In order not to antagonize China – largest trade partner and a strategic ally to the U.S. – American officials have pursued a hands-off approach to Taiwan.

China vented after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump took a historic call Friday night from Taiwan’s leader.

Trump was just doing what he said in the presidential campaign: being open to talking to foreign leaders who want good relations with the United States, Stephen Yates and Christian Whiton wrote in an article on the Fox News website.

Trump, who was unapologetic about the call from the Taiwanese president, received both criticism and praise for breaking protocol.

After Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi blamed Taiwanese leaders Saturday for playing a “small trick”, China said it would issue a diplomatic complaint with Washington. As China will have to negotiate with a Trump administration for at least the next four years, the Chinese state seems prepared to move past the Taiwan phone call and wait to see what happens after Donald Trump is sworn in on January 20. The U.S. State Department was also caught off guard as Secretary of State John Kerry said he had not been consulted with or notified in advance by the Trump camp about the call. The foreign ministry of Beijing filed a complaint against the USA as “causing unnecessary interference to the overall China-U.S. relationship”. The statement added that earlier this year, Trump also congratulated Tsai on becoming President of Taiwan. Chinese President Xi Jinping, however, has warned that the issue of unification can not be put off indefinitely.

Pence said he was not aware of any contact between the Trump transition team and the Chinese government since Friday, and did not expect Trump’s team would reach out this week to ease tensions with China, which claims Taiwan as its own.

Moreover, the senior advisor said, “It was just a phone call”, and does not denote any other meaning. The U.S. policy acknowledges the Chinese view over sovereignty, but considers Taiwan’s status as unsettled.

Chris Murphy, a Democrat who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, publicly blasted Trump for his actions in a series of tweets.

The Trump transition team said in a statement that Trump and Tsai discussed the close economic, political and security ties that exist between Taiwan and the United States.