In a break with decadeslong diplomatic tradition, President-elect Donald Trump spoke directly with the president of Taiwan, a move that drew an irritated response from China on Saturday and looked set to cast uncertainty over U.S. policy toward Asia.The three-way dance between the United States, Taiwan and China has been going on for over 40 years. Leave it to Trump to tromp around like an elephant in a chicken factory.
It is perhaps unprecedented for a U.S. president or president-elect to speak directly with a leader of Taiwan.
The Chinese are, for the moment, willing to cut Trump some slack on this; they're blaming Taiwan for it. But they certainly know that Trump could have refused to have taken the call. Which is something that anyone who had more than a Twitter-based knowledge level of Sino-American relations would have known not to have done.
However, the Trump people said that Trump was aware of the diplomatic niceties involved, that the call was planned, and he took it anyway. Which the Chinese government will surely take note of.
No surprise, there's some grifting going on:
The call also has drawn attention to Taiwanese media reports that the Trump Organization is interested in investing in the Taiwanese city of Taoyuan, near Taipei.
6 comments:
judging by the rather subdued Chinese response, they've got a pretty clear idea of what they're dealing with in T... damn, are they gonna play him or what?
I would rather more outrage, the relatively quiet response may be indicative of China reevaluating its plans and deciding that perhaps this IS China's century with Bozo running the U.S..
I would seriously consider ending the hypocrisy and formally recognize Taiwan as a independent state. China is not our friend, our balance of trade is shit and we are financing their economic (and all the coal burning there) and military machines (South China Sea).
When it comes to containing the madness in North Korea, China is the best friend we've got, 3383.
Subtlety doesn't seem to be his strongest suit, does it?
-Doug in Oakland
Joe, the PRC is the DPRK's enabler.
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