In call with Taiwan, Donald Trump gambles with US-China ties

“US President-elect Donald Trump threw a tantrum against China Sunday night”, the editorial piece read.

“China hopes the USA does not allow her transit, and does not send any wrong signals to Taiwan independence forces, ” the ministry said in a statement.

Taiwanese media reported late Friday that Trump’s team had arranged the call with President Tsai Ing-wen.

Whether that call from Tsai was “a petty trick by Taiwan”, or trial balloon of any kind, Trump broke a decades-old bilateral diplomatic consensus and touched an ultra-sensitive diplomatic nerve.

Stephen Yates, deputy national security adviser to then-U.S.

Tsai told a small group of US reporters Tuesday that she did not sense a major change in USA policies toward Taiwan.

Vice President-elect Mike Pence told NBC, “This was a moment of courtesy. not a discussion about policy”.

US vice-president-elect Mike Pence on Sunday downplayed the conversation with Tsai, saying it was a “courtesy” call and not meant to show a shift in USA policy on China, according to foreign media reports.

I love the fact that Trump did that.

China has two or three views of the President-elect, Rudd said.

“America is a strong country but can’t do whatever it wants”, he adds. Bush administration, said he hoped the US and Taiwan would take advantage of the opportunity as a starting point to effectively expand their bilateral relations.

In fact, Taiwan is the United States’ ninth-largest trading partner, and according to State Department figures, Taiwan employed more than 12,000 workers in the United States and paid them almost $1 billion.

State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner made similar comments on Monday at the daily briefing.

The call is believed to have been the first in 40 years between a Taiwanese leader and a US president-elect in the wake of the 1979 “One China” policy, in which Washington recognized China as the sole legal government of the Chinese people and cut off official diplomatic relations with Taiwan. The One China policy amounts to a delicate balance between respecting China’s claim to its territory and maintaining close ties to Taiwan.

Officially, Beijing’s response to Trump’s action has been muted.

The U.S. commitment to Taiwan also permits the sale of defensive weapons, and just past 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.

Wang Dong is a political science professor at Peking University.

llxhc2014 said: “Trump is a businessman with no diplomatic experience”. Trump has said he sometimes uses strong words to help him negotiate better deals later. “We must confront Trump’s provocations head-on, and make sure he won’t take advantage of China at the beginning of his tenure”.

The Washington Post today tells a different story, with some Trump aides indicating that this was a long-planned call and that this is part of a broader strategic effort. “I don’t think so!”, Trump said. The World Trade Organization says Chinese tariffs on imported goods are generally higher than US tariffs.

The currency issue was key to the rapid expansion of Chinese imports into the USA during the first decade of this century.

Taiwan does not have United Nations status either. Trump took time off from selecting the cabinet for his incoming administration to celebrate his victory in the general election.

Yates said he is not carrying any messages from Trump to Tsai.

The Chinese media also warned saying that America could pay dearly for his (Trump’s) naivety.