Taiwan: No shift in China policy
Presidentelect Donald Trump’s controversial phone call with President Tsai Ing-wen does not signal a change in China policy but simply reflects “a way for us to express our respect for the U.S. election,” Tsai said Tuesday.
“One phone call does not mean a policy shift,” Tsai told USA TODAY. “We all see the value of stability in the region.” Her 10-minute call Friday with Trump overturned decades of diplomatic protocol. It was the first known contact between a president or president-elect and a Taiwanese leader since the United States ended formal relations with the island in 1979.
The call riled China, which considers Taiwan a province, not an independent country. China’s Foreign Ministry said Monday it had “no comment on what motivated the Trump team” to accept the call. Trump referred to Tsai as “president,” a grave transgression from Beijing ’s point of view.
“China showed self-restraint,” Chui-Chen Chiu, deputy minister of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council said Monday.