Obama warns Trump over Taiwan stance
Print Edition
US President Barack Obama has warned his successor Donald Trump against provoking a “very significant” response from China over the Taiwan issue.
The United States president-elect has broken with four decades of US diplomacy by suggesting Washington’s “One China” stance may be reviewed and by accepting a call from Taiwan’s leader Tsai Ing-wen.
The 10-minute telephone call was the first of its kind by a US president-elect or president since America established diplomatic relations with China in 1979, acknowledging Taiwan as part of one China.
China has lodged a diplomatic protest earlier at Trump’s move.
Obama, who leaves office on January 20 to make way for Trump, has taken a cautious stance with China and urged the president-elect to proceed with care.
“The idea of One China is at the heart of their conception as a nation,” he told a White House news conference. “And so if you are going to upend this understanding, you have to have thought through what the consequences are, because the Chinese will not treat that the way they’ll treat some other issues.”
“This goes to the core of how they see themselves, and their reaction on this issue could end up being very significant,” he added.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned last Monday that China would not allow “any force in the world” to play tough with Beijing over its territorial claims.
In a shot across Trump’s bows, Wang said anyone who “tries to sabotage the One China policy or harm China’s core interests will lift a rock only to crush his own toes.”
Obama was careful not to condemn Trump’s initiative out of hand, but warned that if ties between China and the United States broke down, both sides would be worse off.
“So I think it’s fine for him to take a look at it,” he said. “What I have advised the president-elect is that across the board on foreign policy you want to make sure that you’re doing it in a systematic, deliberate, intentional way.”
He implicitly criticized Trump’s decision to make diplomatic moves without seeking the advice of the State Department and US intelligence agencies.
“My advice to him has been that before he starts having a lot of interactions with foreign governments other than the usual courtesy calls that he should want to have his full team in place,” Obama said.
“He should want his team to be fully briefed on what’s gone on in the past and where the potential pitfalls may be, where the opportunities are, what we’ve learnt from eight years of experience.”
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