Monday, December 5, 2016

Chinese Foreign Ministry: 'U.S. President-elect Trump Is Clear About China's Position On The Taiwan Issue'



Reuters: China says Trump clear about Taiwan, in touch with his team

U.S. President-elect Trump is clear about China's position on the Taiwan issue and China has maintained contacts with his team, the foreign ministry said on Monday, as Trump took to Twitter to complain about Chinese economic and military policy.

Trump's unusual call with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen on Friday prompted a diplomatic protest on Saturday, though U.S. Vice President-elect Mike Pence played down the telephone conversation, saying it was a "courtesy" call, not intended to show a shift in U.S. policy on China.

In Beijing, foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang would not say directly who China had lodged "stern representations" with about Trump's call, repeating a weekend statement that it had gone to the "relevant side" in the United States.

"The whole world knows about the Chinese government's position on the Taiwan issue. I think President-elect Trump and his team are also clear," Lu told a daily news briefing.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: In the past .... the Chinese Foreign Ministry's response on the issue of Taiwan has always been blunt, non-compromising, and threatening. But in regards to the Taiwanese President calling President-elect Trump to offer her congratulations .... the Chinese Foreign Ministry's response has been as "muddy and ambiguous" as it can get .... with no direct condemnation of President-elect Trump. They are not even responding to his Tweets .... President-Elect Trump Criticises China Over Their Reaction To His Phone Call With Taiwan .... which I suspect that they are still trying to figure out. I will admit that I am surprised by this. Chinese leaders have always tested new U.S. Presidents within six months after they assumed the office .... but this time around it appears that it is the President-elect who is testing and pushing China ... even threatening a trade war. This is definitely an interesting turn of events .... and I am definitely curious to know how the Chinese will respond when they get their bearings straight. My prediction .... they will stay quiet because their massive trade surpluses with the U.S. is something that they cannot risk right now.

3 comments:

Publius said...

I like this.

This is likely not a blunder by someone uninformed about China's policy regarding Taiwan. To the contrary, this looks like a calculated move with full knowledge of China's position.

Mr. Trump is showing the Chinese (and others) that he will not feel bound by China's diplomatic requirements (e.g. no U.S. President may speak with a Taiwanese President). This is healthy, in order to defy China's gradual but inexorably tightening limitations on the United States' freedom of action.

I agree with WNU Editor that China's muted reaction is fascinating. I expect China to respond with a provocation at some point.

Unknown said...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgSSRE27GQ0

Nuke them til they glow. shoot them in the dark.

B.Poster said...

The US also cannot afford to be without "made in China" right now. In fact, the US can afford this far less than China can afford a loss of the "trade surpluses."

China holds the upper hand here, not the US. Why is China's response muted? There's a saying, to paraphrase, "when an enemy behaves recklessly, allow him enough rope to hang himself!!"

I sincerely hope Mr. Trump knows what he's doing but this doesn't look good!! When he got elected, I assumed the rhetoric would change. During the run up to the negotiations that ended Cold War I the rhetoric was quite heated. When it came time to negotiate, the parties were respectful to each other.

Clearly the US-China trade agreements which are destroying us need to be renegotiated. In order to get this done, the US will need to make some concessions. I'd suggest 1.) recognize and acknowledge China's position in the South China Sea and 2.)recognize Tawain's position as a breakaway Chinese province and withdraw all support for it while making it clear the US supports China's position here.

In exchange for this, China would likely be willing to renegotiate the trade agreements between us and them as Mr. Trump correctly understands needs to be renegotiated. Provokkng China by speaking with Taiwanese leader doesn't look like a good move. Hopefully I'm missing something.