Trump’s Taiwan call was long planned,
Donald Trump’s protocol-breaking telephone call with Taiwan’s leader was an intentionally provocative move that establishes the incoming President as a break with the past, according to interviews with people involved in the planning.
The historic communication — the first between leaders of the United States and Taiwan since 1979 — was the product of months of quiet preparations and deliberations among Trump’s advisers about a new strategy for engagement with Taiwan that began even before he became the GOP presidential nominee, according to people involved in or briefed on the talks.
The call also reflects the views of hardline advisers urging Trump to take a tough opening line with China, said others familiar with the months of discussion about Taiwan and China.
Trump and his advisers have sought to publicly portray the call the President-elect took from Taiwan President Tsai Ing Wen on Saturday as a routine congratulatory call. Trump noted on Twitter that she placed the call.
“He took the call, accepted her congratulations and good wishes and it was precisely that,” Vice-Presidentelect Mike Pence said on ABC’s This Week.
That glosses over the extensive and turbulent history of US relations with Taiwan and the political importance the island and its democratic traditions hold for many Republican foreign policy specialists.
Some critics portrayed the move as the thoughtless blundering of a foreign policy novice, but other ex- perts said it appeared calculated to signal a new, robust approach to relations with China.
China reacted sternly to the Taiwan call, suggesting that it shows Trump’s inexperience.
Trump sent a pair of Twitter messages yesterday that echoed his campaign-stump blasts against China.
“Did China ask us if it was OK to devalue their currency ( making it hard for our companies to compete), heavily tax our products going into their country ( the US doesn’t tax them) or to build a massive military complex in the middle of the South China Sea? I don’t think so!” The US does impose a tax on Chinese goods — 2.9 per cent for non-farm goods and 2.5 per cent for agricultural products.
Some of the Republican Party’s most ardent Taiwan proponents are playing active roles in Trump’s transition team, and others in the conservative foreign policy community see a historic opportunity to reset relations with Taiwan and reposition it as a more strategic ally in East Asia.
Several leading members of Trump’s transition team are considered hawkish on China and friendly toward Taiwan, including incoming chief of staff Reince Priebus.
Indeed, advisers explicitly warned last month that relations with China were in for a shake-up.
Saturday’s phonecall was planned weeks ahead by staffers and Taiwan specialists on both sides, according to people familiar with the plans.