Trump Speaks with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-Wen, Breaking Policy

JOE RAEDLE/AFP/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — President-elect Donald Trump spoke with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen by phone Friday, according to the Trump transition team, breaking with decades of delicate U.S. policy on China.

Since 1979, a phone call between a U.S. president-elect and a Taiwanese leader has never been publicly reported, according to Center for Strategic and International Studies China expert Bonnie Glaser.

During the conversation, the Taiwanese president offered her congratulations and Trump offered the same to her for her election victory this year, according to a Trump team press release. They discussed the “close economic, political, and security ties between Taiwan and the United States,” the Trump transition team said.

That the conversation took place at all is “highly unusual” and “significant,” said Dr. Claude Rakisits, of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, an expert in U.S.-South Asian affairs.

“The fact that Trump actually spoke with Taiwan [president] would irritate the communist leaders in China, in Beijing, because they would wonder, ‘Is this an indication of the sort of relationship that one could expect between the U.S. and China during his presidency?'”

Taiwan’s status has been a sensitive topic in the United States’ relationship with China. The U.S. has maintained a “one China” policy since establishing diplomatic relations with Beijing in 1979, meaning that it has not recognized Taiwan as its own country, but rather as a part of China.

But the U.S. does maintain a “robust unofficial relationship” with Taiwan and commits to defending it in the event of a Chinese attack.

Since it split from the Chinese mainland in a 1949 civil war, Taiwan has maintained that it is an independent nation, despite China’s and the United States’ denial of this claim, and has seen a growing body of support among Taiwanese youth.

A spokesperson for the National Security Council said there is “no change to our longstanding policy on cross-Strait issues. We remain firmly committed to our ‘one China’ policy based on the three Joint Communiques and the Taiwan Relations Act.”

In the past, President-Elect Donald Trump has voiced support for a weapons deal with Taiwan, advocating a tough stance against China.

Why is @BarackObama delaying the sale of F-16 aircraft to Taiwan? Wrong message to send to China. #TimeToGetTough

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 18, 2011

Copyright © 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

Share on facebook
Facebook
Share on twitter
Twitter
Share on linkedin
LinkedIn
Share on email
Email
Share on print
Print