No need to over-interpret Tsai-Trump phone call

[FarCenter]

Friday's phone call between Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen and US President-elect Donald Trump, which broke the nearly four decades of US diplomatic practice, came as a striking move but it does not bear the same importance as it seems to be.

For Trump, it exposed nothing but his and his transition team's inexperience in dealing with foreign affairs. If he could make the unusual action due to lack of proper understanding of Sino-US relations and cross-Straits ties he will have to recognize the significance of prudently and appropriately addressing these sensitive issues after being inaugurated.

As US president, Trump undoubtedly shoulders responsibility to safeguard the interests of his country, which includes a healthy relationship with China. To do that, he cannot afford to damage the one-China policy, which has been maintained by every US administration since 1979 to serve as the political foundation for bilateral ties.

As one of his Tweet posts shows, Trump knows the fact that "I should not accept a congratulatory call" although the US sells Taiwan billions of dollars of military equipment. Whether in his position as a businessman or US president, Trump should also know that amount of money doesn't mean he can sacrifice US ties with China, the US' largest trade partner with a bilateral trade volume of $558 billion in 2015, as well as the biggest holder of US treasury bonds of $1.19 trillion.

http://en.people.cn/n3/2016/1204/c90000-9150473.html

A People's Daily opinion piece probably reflects official Chinese views.

[MADem]

1. Trump wants to build hotels in Taiwan--this wasn't "innocent" at all.

http://www.ifyouonlynews.com/politics/trump-org-denies-trying-to-build-hotels-in-taiwan-forgets-to-delete-facebook-brags-about-it/?utm_content=bufferace84&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer


TRUMP ORG DENIES TRYING TO BUILD HOTELS IN TAIWAN, FORGETS TO DELETE FACEBOOK BRAGS ABOUT IT

(For what it’s worth, Trump’s saving grace may be the fact that China has absolutely no respect for him. In the statement of condemnation, the Chinese government made it clear that they believed Taiwan orchestrated this and played off the stupidity of Trump, a useful idiot, to further their agenda. “We believe it’s a petty action by the Taiwan side,” is how they more artfully phrased it.)

But there’s something else going on here: Just two weeks ago, Trump’s company decided it wanted to make a play for Taiwan’s property market. Long before “The Call,” Trump’s organization sent employees to Taiwan to scope out the situation.

The Shanghaiist wrote about it at the time:

The mayor of Taoyuan confirmed rumors on Wednesday that US president-elect Donald Trump was considering constructing a series of luxury hotels and resorts in the northwest Taiwanese city.

A representative from the Trump Organization paid a visit to Taoyuan in September, expressing interest in the city’s Aerotropolis, a large-scale urban development project aimed at capitalizing on Taoyuan’s status as a transport hub for East Asia, Taiwan News reports.
So Trump’s call appears to have been motivated, at least in part, by his business interests. He was willing to set the stage for a global standoff with China over a few Trump-brand hotels in Taipei. The conflict of interests the experts warned us about? This story has all of it and then some.
First, Trump is probably lying about who called who. Sources in Taiwan say it was “Taiwan-friendly” Trump staffers (many of whom either are currently or were Trump organization employees) organized the call.....