President-elect Trump shook diplomatic relations with China today when he spoke to President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan over the phone, the first time a US president has spoken with Taiwan’s leadership since 1979.
Given the amount of distrust between Taiwan and China, it has been 36 years since any American president has bypassed China to talk to the president of Taiwan.
Many experts are saying that this move will infuriate Beijing and upset US-China relations. Evan Medeiros, the former Asia director at the White House National Security Council, told the Financial Times:
“The Chinese leadership will see this as a highly provocative action, of historic proportions.”
China-Taiwan Tensions
The United States suspended formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan after the One China position was established during the Nixon-Mao meetings. The position states that there is only one China, and Taiwan is part of China. This has been a necessary concession for US-China relations, as China views Taiwan as a renegade province.
President of Eurasia Group and geopolitical expert Ian Bremmer, posted the following tweets:
Trump has phone call w Taiwan President, 1st by US Pres or Pres-elect since 1979.
Beijing will be absolutely incensed.
— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) December 2, 2016
Having inadvertently caused a major diplomatic incident w China, does Trump:
1 Act like it was intentional
2 Admit mistakeI'd go with 1
— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) December 2, 2016
Trump’s team released a statement that said the discussion was about the political, economic, and security ties between the US and Taiwan. Also, both President Tsai Ing-wen and President-elect Trump offered each other congratulations on their respective election victories.
It doesn’t seem like there was really any good reason for Trump to break protocol like this and create a possible international dispute with our most powerful ally. However, the Shanghaiist reported last month that Trump has been considering building a luxury hotel chain in the Taiwanese city of Taoyuan.
If the phone call had anything to do with this hotel chain, it would be a major breach of the promises Trump has made to exclude himself from his family’s business ventures.
But would anybody really be surprised? Given what we’ve seen so far, I would be zero percent shocked if Trump sacrificed our entire country’s diplomatic relationship with China in order to grease some palms and save a few bucks on his new hotel.
I’ll leave it to Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy to break down just how insane this is:
(1) Foreign policy consistency is a means, not an end. It's not sacred. Thus, it's Trump's right to shift policy, alliances, strategy.
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) December 2, 2016
(2) What has happened in the last 48 hours is not a shift. These are major pivots in foreign policy w/out any plan. That's how wars start.
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) December 2, 2016
(3) And if they aren't pivots – just radical temporary deviations – allies will walk if they have no clue what we stand for. Just as bad.
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) December 2, 2016
(4) It's probably time we get a Secretary of State nominee on board. Preferably w experience. Like, really really soon.
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) December 2, 2016
Watch the video below to get a quick in-depth analysis of China and Taiwan’s history:
Featured image credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr/CC-2.0
