Don’t read too much into Trump’s Taiwan call, say China state media

Donald Trump's 10-minute phone call with the president of Taiwan, which prompted an irritated – if relatively calm – reaction from Beijing, exposed the US president-elect's lack of experience but shouldn't be over-interpreted, Chinese state media said on Sunday.

The call, which Mr Trump insisted had been initiated by Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen, was a sign of nothing but his and his transition team's inexperience in dealing with foreign affairs, the English-language China Daily newspaper reported.

“If he could make the unusual action due to lack of proper understanding of Sino-US relations and cross-straits ties, he will have to recognise the significance of prudently and appropriately addressing these sensitive issues after being inaugurated,” the paper said.

Taiwan has been a self-ruled rival to China since 1949, when the Kuomintang fled there after losing the civil war to the communists. Since then, China has made periodic noises about reclaiming what it sees as a rogue province, if necessary by force, but generally a situation of detente has prevailed.

In 1979, Washington switched diplomatic recognition to China from Taiwan, which, with a population of 23.5 million, is much smaller than China’s 1.3 billion. The US since then has followed a “one China policy”, whereby Washington agrees not to recognise Taiwan as a country while maintaining unofficial relations and even agreeing to support Taiwan should China ever invade.

The China Daily reminded Mr Trump of the importance of US-China trade relations, which amounted to $558 billion (€523 billion) in 2015. China is also the biggest holder of US treasury bonds, worth $1.19 trillion (€1.12 trillion).

Keen to test China

Meanwhile, the Global Times newspaper, which is published by the same group that publishes the Communist Party's flagship People's Daily, said Mr Trump may have been keen to test how China would react by taking the call, "and therefore prepare him for dealing with the country and gaining some advantage after he takes office".

"If Trump wants to overstep the One-China principle, he will destroy Sino-US ties," the Global Times said. "That means the current pattern between Beijing and Washington as well as international order will be overturned. We believe this is not what Trump wants."

The paper reiterated the government line that Taiwan had made a “petty gesture” and attacked Ms Tsai’s independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party for making the most of the phone call.

“Trump is not familiar with foreign relations and has been known for not playing by the rules since he started running for president,” it opined. “Before he gets sworn in, he faces some vague space to handle things.

“By answering Tsai’s call he may want to test how China would react and therefore prepare him for dealing with the country and gaining some advantage after he takes office.”