China: Trump Stance on China Clear on Call with Taiwan

“But until someone from Trump Tower explains further, it is unknowable”. Under the policy, the USA retains unofficial ties to Taiwan while recognising Beijing as representing China.

The U.S. commitment to Taiwan also permits the sale of defensive weapons, and just previous year the U.S. sold Taiwan $1.83 billion worth of them, most of which Taipei uses to defend itself from a potential provocations from Beijing.

The call with Taiwan was the first by a US President-elect or President since President Jimmy Carter switched diplomatic recognition to China from Taiwan, acknowledging Taiwan as part of “one China”.

“We urge the relevant side in the U.S.to adhere to the “one China” policy, abide by the pledges in the three joint China-U.S. communiques, and handle issues related to Taiwan carefully and properly to avoid causing unnecessary interference to the overall China-U.S. relationship”, the statement added.

In Taipei some said they now fear a Beijing backlash. She is not a risk-taken, and it would be hugely embarrassing to her if Trump didn’t take the call and word of the snub got out.

The call prompted an understated complaint from China to the USA government.

The Indiana governor said that just like other world leaders, the Taiwanese president called Trump to offer congratulations for his election win.

Trump’s top advisers also moved to tamp down criticism over the call Sunday, and Vice President-elect Mike Pence referred to it as “nothing more than a courtesy call”. He shrugged off the attention to the incident as media hype.

“Succeeding a mostly upward U.S”.

It sparked a backlash from China’s government, which considers Taiwan a province of China.

Taiwan split from the Chinese mainland in 1949.

Beijing has also been unhappy with the U.S. for what it perceives as third-party interference in a territorial dispute in the South China Sea.

Christopher Hill, a former United States ambassador, said that Trump was “winging it” and may not have been aware of the significance of the move. Global relations professor Dan Drezner suggested on Twitter that the phone call was more important than “some guns” because it was an action that threatened “the core of the PRC’s self-conception of its sovereignty”.

Moreover, given the views Trump has expressed about China, it makes sense that he would signal a possible shift in America’s approach to China.

The U.S. has not had diplomatic relations with Taiwan since 1979, when it recognized the People’s Republic of China as the sole legal government.

Tsai also told Trump that she hoped the US would support Taiwan in its participation in worldwide affairs, the office said, in an apparent reference to China’s efforts to isolate Taiwan from global institutions such as the United Nations.

Obama has worked to improve cooperation with the country on climate change and North Korea, though deep differences remain, including on China’s territorial grabs in the South China Sea and on cyber issues. “There is no conflict” in that, he said. An annual survey published in January by the American Chamber of Commerce in China found that US companies believe the business environment there is getting more hard, with one in 10 companies saying they planned to relocate, or have already moved a part of their business outside China.

National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said “there is no change to our longstanding policy on cross-Strait issues”, adding that the US remained firmly committed to the U.S.

The Washington Post said Trump’s protocol-breaking telephone call with Taiwan’s leader was an intentionally provocative move that establishes the incoming president as a break with the past.