The Closest Precedent to Trumps Taiwan Phone Call Almost Sparked a War

[milestogo]

The Third Taiwan Strait Crisis demonstrates how bad little screw-ups can get

by ROBERT BECKHUSEN

More than 21 years ago, Taiwanese Pres. Lee Teng-hui visited the United States to give a speech at Cornell University. U.S. Pres. Bill Clinton, under intense pressure from Congress and a Taiwan lobbying push to grant Lee a visa, caved. Within months, America and China plunged into their most serious crisis since the 1960s.

China began firing rockets into the ocean, staging naval maneuvers and exercising for an invasion. Two U.S. carrier battle groups led by the USS Independence and USS Nimitz muscled into the region, the latter which transited the Taiwan Strait. While these moves pushed China to back down, it took years for diplomats to patch things up, and led Clinton in 1998 to openly rule out support for Taiwanese independence in the “three no’s.”

Fast forward to 2016, and U.S. president-elect Donald Trump set off diplomatic sirens in Beijing after a Dec. 2 phone call with Taiwanese Pres. Tsai Ing-wen — possibly the first time an American president or president-elect has spoken to a Taiwanese leader since 1979 when the United States broke off relations in exchange for recognizing China. “The two briefly exchanged views on affairs in Asia,” Tsai’s office said in a statement. “President Tsai hopes to step up bilateral interactions and connections and to establish closer co-operative relations.”

The Trump transition did not respond until after the Financial Times broke news of the call, and the team did not inform the White House in advance, according to the paper. It’s hard to sum up the implications more succinctly than Evan Medeiros, an Asia analyst at Eurasia Group who spoke to the Times. “Regardless if it was deliberate or accidental, this phone call will fundamentally change China’s perceptions of Trump’s strategic intentions for the negative,” Medeiros said. The Chinese Foreign Ministry lodged a formal protest and warned that Trump’s call could damage the “political foundation of China-U.S. relations.” But China is also keeping its options open. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office described the call as a “petty” move by Tsai, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi referred to a “shenanigan by the Taiwan side.”

Read more: https://warisboring.com/the-closest-precedent-to-trumps-taiwan-phone-call-almost-sparked-a-war-317606bade69#.rb4lcbf3r

[TreasonousBastard]

1. Dunno about war with China-- we're far too important a market, but...

it could encourage them to expand even further into the Pacific. That could end up being the war.

The Japanese and Koreans could be shitting their pants about now.

[underpants]

2. Neither he nor his staff have a clue as to what they are doing

None. No clue.

[milestogo]

3. Trump looks at everything through the very narrow lens

of his own business interests. If he can't make a profitable "deal" he has no interest.

There's a lot of nuance in statesmanship - Trump doesn't do nuance, and he doesn't know what a statesman is.

[unblock]

5. sure he knows what a statesman is. it's a newspaper!

http://www.statesman.com/


and yeah, he doesn't do nuance -- but maybe melania does:

[milestogo]

6. !!

[unblock]

4. sounds like both taiwan and china are treating donnie like someone who has no clue what's going on.

taiwan saw an opening figuring the fool wouldn't know how to handle (or not) the call, and beijing responded by putting all the blame on taiwan -- because everyone knows doesn't have a clue.

[RainCaster]

7. They all see him as the simpleton he is.

How simple can it be to not answer the phone? The Orange Twit can't even do that right!