Trump says US not necessarily bound by ‘One China’ policy

By Lobsang Tenchoe

DHARAMSALA, Dec 12: President-elect Donald Trump has said he sees no reason why the US should continue to abide by ‘One China’ policy unless a bargain is reached with Beijing involving trade.

In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, Trump remarked that he sees no reason why the US should continue abiding by the ‘One China’ policy – under which Washington does not recognize Taiwan as a sovereign state – unless Beijing was prepared to enter into some kind of bargain.

“I fully understand the ‘one China’ policy, but I don’t know why we have to be bound by a ‘one China’ policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade,” Trump told Fox.

Trump further raised a list of complaints about China that he highlighted during his presidential campaign in the interview such as China’s devastating currency manipulation, heavy tax on US products, militarizing the South China Sea and Beijing’s stance towards North Korea.

Trump’s remarks to do away with the four-decade understanding with Beijing on one china policy unless its leaders were prepared to strike a new deal with his administration have unsettled the Chinese government and drew an angry retort from Beijing.

“Bilateral ties and ‘the sound and steady growth of China-US relations’ would be ‘out of the question’ were Trump to turn away from the ‘One China’ policy,” The Guardian quoted GengShuang, spokesman for China’s foreign ministry as saying in its report.

Similarly, the Global Times, an official mouth piece of the communist regime ran an editorial that called Trump ‘naive like a child on diplomacy’ and that the ‘one China’ policy could not be bought or sold.