China has lodged a diplomatic protest following Trump's call with Taiwan's president
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
The call on Friday was the first time a US president had spoken directly with Taiwan's leadership in more than 30 years and could strain US-China relations. The US broke formal ties with Taiwan in 1979, taking on a One-China position - switching diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China - as it looked to establish diplomatic channels with Beijing.
China's Foreign Ministry has now moved to lodge "stern representations" with "the relevant US side," according to the Reuters report.
"The one China principle is the political basis of the China-US relationship," the China Foreign Ministry added.
Chinese state news agency Xinhua said the Ministry had urged the US "to cautiously, properly handle Taiwan issue to avoid unnecessary disturbance to Sino-US relations," according to the BBC.
Earlier on Saturday, China's foreign minister Wang Yi dismissed the phone call as "just a small trick by Taiwan" that he hoped would not affect the US' China policy, according to Hong Kong's Phoenix TV.
"The one-China policy is the cornerstone of the healthy development of China-U.S. relations and we hope this political foundation will not be interfered with or damaged," Wang was quoted as saying.
Trump's transition team said on Friday the Taiwanese president had called him to offer her congratulations on his election victory.
The statement said: "During the discussion, they noted the close economic, political, and security ties" between Taiwan and the United States. The statement continued. "President-elect Trump also congratulated President Tsai on becoming President of Taiwan earlier this year."
Trump tweeted later on Friday, saying: "The President of Taiwan CALLED ME today to wish me congratulations on winning the Presidency."
The President-elect followed that tweet up with another, in a response to critics: "Interesting how the US sells Taiwan billions of dollars of military equipment, but I should not accept a congratulatory call."
Prominent geopolitical expert Ian Bremmer slammed Trump's decision to take the phone call from President Tsai Ing-wen. He tweeted that Beijing will be "absolutely incensed" and told Business Insider: "Trump is just taking all sorts of calls of congratulations and has ignored both protocol and intel briefings. This is his first serious misstep accordingly. We'll surely see more."
However, Trump adviser and former campaign manager Kellyanne Conway brushed off concerns about the unprecedented conversation with Taiwan's president.
In an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper, Conway accused Democrats of blowing things out of proportion. She pointed specifically to a tweet from Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut saying Trump's approach to foreign policy is "how wars start."
"This is how wars start and it's a major policy shift because he had a phone call? That's pretty negative and pretty presumptuous," Conway said. "This is the president elect, this will be his administration, he'll be commander-in-chief, and he'll be president of the United States imminently ... he's well aware of what US policy has been."
NOW WATCH: Why Ivanka can't serve in a Trump cabinet
- US buys 81 Soviet-era combat aircraft from Russia's ally costing on average less than $20,000 each, report says
- 2 states where home prices are falling because there are too many houses and not enough buyers
- A couple accidentally shipped their cat in an Amazon return package. It arrived safely 6 days later, hundreds of miles away.
- Foreign tourist arrivals in India will cross pre-pandemic level in 2024
- Upcoming smartphones launching in India in May 2024
- Markets rebound in early trade amid global rally, buying in ICICI Bank and Reliance
- Women in Leadership
- Rupee declines 5 paise to 83.43 against US dollar in early trade
- JNK India IPO allotment date
- JioCinema New Plans
- Realme Narzo 70 Launched
- Apple Let Loose event
- Elon Musk Apology
- RIL cash flows
- Charlie Munger
- Feedbank IPO allotment
- Tata IPO allotment
- Most generous retirement plans
- Broadcom lays off
- Cibil Score vs Cibil Report
- Birla and Bajaj in top Richest
- Nestle Sept 2023 report
- India Equity Market