[political]

Former reality star says Beijing needs to grant more concessions on trade and security

Donald Trump has questioned whether the US should continue its support for the “One China” policy unless Beijing makes concessions on trade and other issues.

“I don’t want China dictating to me”, he said while defending his recent phone call with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen.

In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, he said: “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.”

The President-elect was responding to a question about his phone conversation with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, which represented a break with decades of US diplomatic tradition that recognises Beijing as the sole representative of China.

Mr Trump said he had only a few hours notice that the call was coming and that reports it had been prearranged by his team were false.

The “One China” policy means Beijing and Washington both consider Taiwan a part of China.

Mr Trump went on to claim China was also a currency manipulator and needed to do more to curb North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

He said that as North Korea's main patron, China “could solve that problem” but “they're not helping at all” and also criticised China's aggressive actions in the South China Sea.

The billionaire said it would have been disrespectful not to take the call from Ms Tsai, who had congratulated him on his victory.

He said: “It was a very nice call. Short. And why should some other nation be able to say I can't take a call?”

The “One China” policy grew out of the ending of the Chinese Civil War in the late 1940s when the Nationalist government under Chiang Kai-shek was overthrown by the Communists, forming the People’s Republic of China, and fled to the island of Formosa (now Taiwan) – where they formed the Republic of China.

At the time the Nationalists vowed to return to Beijing and for many years Western powers recognised them as the official rulers of China.

But the US first formally adopted the “One China” policy in 1972 when President Richard Nixon opened up relations with China under the ailing Chairman Mao Tse-tung – despite continuing informal relations with Taipei.

The People's Republic of China had replaced the Republic of China as a permanent member of the UN Security Council a year earlier.

In recent years a movement has grown in Taiwan calling for the government to declare official independence from the Chinese mainland – something Beijing fiercely opposes.

Independent

[political]

]BEIJING (AP) — China says it has "serious concern" about President-elect Donald Trump's latest comments suggesting he is reconsidering America's relationship with Taiwan.

Geng Shuang, a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry, said Monday that Trump's comments in a television interview over the weekend raised the possibility that U.S.-China relations would be "badly affected." Geng said the "one China" policy was the "political foundation" of any Sino-American ties.

The United States switched relations from Taipei to Beijing in 1979. China considers Taiwan to be part of China and any reference to a separate Taiwanese government as a grave insult.

But Trump said on "Fox News Sunday" that he doesn't feel "bound by a one-China policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade."


Associated Press

[XogGyux]

I support Taiwan (and any other nation for that matter) independence. In fact any country or region that does not want to belong to another one country should have its independence. I think the whole world ignoring the Taiwan has been a grave mistake that might have grave consequences if the actions of the sociopath president-elect take a turn for the worse. Escalation of china/Japanese/us armies in that area could potentially end in disaster.

[political]

Taiwan claims to rightfully own the whole of China. It calls itsef the Republic of China.

[XogGyux]

Taiwan claims to rightfully own the whole of China. It calls itsef the Republic of China.

Yeah well, thats wrong also.

[One Degree]

I support Taiwan (and any other nation for that matter) independence.

I agree. Any country that prevents an area from freely choosing not to be a part of that country any longer, has no claim to morality or any sense of human rights. I will amend that to say the area choosing to leave should not be so large as to threaten the whole. There is a difference between the US civil war and Calexit for example.

[benpenguin]

I support the notion that Taiwan is independent, but you'd be surprised that most Taiwanese is actually happy with the current "de facto independence" arrangement. Taiwanese green rightists are estatic with Trump's rhetoric, true, but the rest of them do not like the idea that they will be used as anti-China pawn. PRC-Taiwan relations is much of a frienemy situation, US really should excercise caution...

[One Degree]

The US has a history of minority power Congressmen meeting heads of state all over the world. If China can entertain politicians and other notable personalities from the US, then it is ridiculous to say the US president can not speak to whom ever they want. I see nothing wrong with putting some common sense into Victorian diplomatic protocols.

[Rousse]

I support the status quo "one China" relationship, held by both the PRC and Taiwan's Kuomintang party. Anything but gradual reintegration risks third world war, and while the cultural gulf between the two countries' majorities are growing, it's less stark than cultural differences within the PRC like between Han and Tibetans or Uighurs.

Trump's actions here are a dramatic pivot away from the status quo held on China policy by America's leadership since the Eisenhower administration. They're an aberration for a reason, and that's the fact that they're dangerous.

[Political Interest]

Why America would possibly concern itself with affairs in the Far East is beyond me. America has no cultural interest in this part of the world at all. It would be far better to leave this region to its own devices.