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Donald Trump rails against China as team runs damage control over Taiwan
Source: The Guardian
[Donald Trump rails against China as team runs damage control over Taiwan
President-elect sent tweets hours after Mike Pence tried
to downplay possibility that Trump could threaten diplomatic
rift with Beijing through actions last week
David Smith in Washington
Monday 5 December 2016 08.53 GMT
President-elect Donald Trump railed against China on Sunday, only hours after his transition team denied that his call with Taiwan’s president signaled a new US policy toward Pacific power.
“Did China ask us if it was OK to devalue their currency (making it hard for our companies to compete), heavily tax our products going into their country (the US doesn’t tax them) or to build a massive military complex in the middle of the South China Sea?” he tweeted. “I don’t think so!”
Earlier on Sunday the vice-president-elect, Mike Pence, had tried to downplay the possibility that Trump could threaten a diplomatic rift with Beijing through his actions last week. Trump’s 10-minute phone conversation on Friday with Tsai Ing-wen – thought to be the first time a US president or president-elect has spoken to a Taiwanese leader since 1979 – and subsequent reference to Tsai as “president” threatened such a breach, and implied he might be making up policy on the hoof.
In damage control mode, Pence sought to dismiss the row as “a tempest in a teapot”, contrasting it with Barack Obama’s rapprochement with communist Cuba.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
President-elect sent tweets hours after Mike Pence tried
to downplay possibility that Trump could threaten diplomatic
rift with Beijing through actions last week
David Smith in Washington
Monday 5 December 2016 08.53 GMT
President-elect Donald Trump railed against China on Sunday, only hours after his transition team denied that his call with Taiwan’s president signaled a new US policy toward Pacific power.
“Did China ask us if it was OK to devalue their currency (making it hard for our companies to compete), heavily tax our products going into their country (the US doesn’t tax them) or to build a massive military complex in the middle of the South China Sea?” he tweeted. “I don’t think so!”
Earlier on Sunday the vice-president-elect, Mike Pence, had tried to downplay the possibility that Trump could threaten a diplomatic rift with Beijing through his actions last week. Trump’s 10-minute phone conversation on Friday with Tsai Ing-wen – thought to be the first time a US president or president-elect has spoken to a Taiwanese leader since 1979 – and subsequent reference to Tsai as “president” threatened such a breach, and implied he might be making up policy on the hoof.
In damage control mode, Pence sought to dismiss the row as “a tempest in a teapot”, contrasting it with Barack Obama’s rapprochement with communist Cuba.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/dec/04/trump-foreign-policy-faces-scrutiny-as-team-defends-taiwan-phone-call