China 'Seriously Concerned' About Latest Trump Comments

They are serious about 'One China'
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 12, 2016 7:49 AM CST
China 'Seriously Concerned' About Latest Trump Comments
In this Dec. 1 file photo, President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a "USA Thank You" tour event in Cincinnati.   (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

Donald Trump is getting pilloried for a number of comments made during his extensive interview on Fox News Sunday, among them his view on intelligence briefings and his "massive landslide victory ... in the Electoral College" (the latter not so much, historically speaking.) But not all the response is domestic in nature: China on Monday voiced its "serious concern" over Trump's questioning of the United States' decades-old "One China" policy on Taiwan. Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang was blunt in comments picked up by Reuters: "Upholding the 'One China' principle is the political basis for developing China-US ties. If this basis is interfered with or damaged then the healthy development of China-US relations and bilateral cooperation in important areas is out of the question."

On Sunday, the president-elect expressed that he saw no reason why we should be "bound by a One China policy" in the absence of a new "deal" with China's leaders. The Wall Street Journal reminds why from a historical and contemporary view: Adhering to that policy and severing official diplomatic ties with the Taiwan government was a prerequisite in re-establishing those same ties with Beijing in 1979. Currently, the Chinese are "near universal" in their support of reunification of Taiwan with mainland China, so "leaders in Beijing have almost nothing to gain politically from including the issue in any negotiations with the US." A trio of international relations experts weigh in at the Guardian, with one saying Trump has thus far dealt a "punch," "hug," and now "uppercut" to China. (More President Trump stories.)

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