Asian giant warns of backlash if new US regime shuns One China policy
BEIJING // Beijing yesterday issued its first clear warning over Donald Trump’s fiery rhetoric, as state media said the Asian giant could back “forces hostile to the US” if the president-elect follows through with threats to drop Washington’s One China policy.
It was the strongest signal yet from Chinese authorities that abandoning the One China policy, which guides relations with self-ruling Taiwan, would upset decades of carefully managed Sino-US relations and end cooperation between the world’s top two economies.
However, Taiwan is also concerned that it could be used as a bargaining chip in any future trade negotiations with China.a
Beijing has not controlled Taiwan for more than 60 years but foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said it considered the island a “core interest” that affected China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
He said the One China policy was the “political bedrock” for relations with the US and if it was “compromised or disrupted”, sound and steady growth in China-US relations and cooperation in major fields would be “out of the question”.
But In Taiwan, opposition politician Johnny chiang warned, “Trump’s comments regularly mention Taiwan. What advantage is this giving Taiwan? This is something we must consider,.otherwise, among the superpowers, when we are betrayed, we won’t even realize it.”
“It looks like in Donald Trump’s mind (Taiwan) is a useful tool to pick the most sensitive nerve of China,” said Alexander Huang, chairman of the Council on Strategic and Wargaming Studies in Taiwan and a former Taiwanese government policymaker.He said it was too early to tell what Trump was angling at, but the real message could be about “a fair deal or a quid pro quo” between the U.S. and China.
The responses from the two Chinese nations clearly indicate that Mr Trump has managed to upset both of them before he even takes office as president.
The comments came in response to Mr Trump’s remarks in an interview on Sunday that he did not see why Washington must “be bound by a One China policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade”.
Mr Trump defended taking a congratulatory call this month from Tsai Ing-wen, the democratically elected president of Taiwan, which Beijing regards as a rogue province awaiting unification.
Although the US is Taiwan’s main ally and arms supplier, Washington has not had official diplomatic relations with Taipei since 1979, when it switched recognition to Beijing.
Mr Trump’s decision to take the call broke decades of protocol, and seemed to catch China’s Communist Party leadership by surprise.
The official response was initially muted, and state media largely blamed Taiwan for the phone call and advocated a wait-and-see response.
But the remarks yesterday were more pointed, and a commentary in the nationalistic Global Times offered a more menacing warning to Mr Trump, saying he was "as ignorant of diplomacy as a child".
If the US openly supports Taiwan’s independence and increases arms sales to the island, it threatened, China could aid “forces hostile to the US”.
“In response to Trump’s provocations, Beijing could offer support, even military assistance to US foes,” it said.
Despite the escalation in official rhetoric, many Chinese analysts still offer a note of restraint, emphasising Mr Trump’s background in business, not politics, and the possibility his actions in office will take a softer line.
“I think this could be his negotiating technique because he knows the Taiwan issue is an extremely sensitive issue, an issue China is very concerned about,” said Wu Xinbo, director of the Centre for American Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai.
Mr Trump, he said, was playing the card in hopes of winning concessions on trade and that China should not be “too nervous” nor should it react “too fiercely”.
“We have to wait until after he takes office, then look again at his concrete actions.”
Mr Trump last week appointed Iowa governor Terry Branstad, who is personally acquainted with Chinese president Xi Jinping, as ambassador to Beijing.
A commentary on the official Xinhua news service yesterday compared the two countries’ relations to people who “want to be close friends”.
The US must know “where to draw the line”, it said, noting that previous presidents have set good examples.
* Agence France-Presse
* Reuters
