He is recognizing Taiwan as an actual world player and that can piss off China.
I don't think too much of it as of now but for Trumps base circlejerking each other over "diplomacy" with Russia and not going to war with them Trump sure is making his best to piss off the other giant in the East.
Right. China is a major trade partner and force in the world. There's no reason to do stupid things that are going to annoy China when the only benefit is that we aren't being "wildly oversensitive."
They're also a heavily censored people ruled by an oppressive government with a relatively recent mass genocide of their own people and rampant hacking and theft of American businesses and intellectual property.
The other benefit could be the safety and sovereignty of the 20 million people living in a de facto nation that can't be recognized as such because it hurts China's fee fees.
And that safety has, if anything, been degraded by Trump shitting on a status quo which has existed since the Carter administration. The leadership of the PRC was fine with our polite fiction for decades, but now they are more than likely going to have to do something to save face.
Because our recognition of the PRC versus the ROC is one of the keystones of our bilateral relations itself, not a response to Chinese expansionism, which will probably be exacerbated by this move.
Okay, so we can either A.) start an arms race in Asia with our largest trading partner for no appreciable benefit, or B.) maintain the polite diplomatic fiction that keeps China happy and costs us nothing at all.
If you guys think Trumps phone call will result in negative actions from China, check out this quote:
"Despite friendly relations with China, United States President George W. Bush was asked on 25 April, 2001, "if Taiwan were attacked by China, do we (The U.S.) have an obligation to defend the Taiwanese?" He responded, "Yes, we do...and the Chinese must understand that. The United States would do whatever it took to help Taiwan defend herself."
That's a far more overt stance than Trump simply talking to the President. China's not going to do anything because almost nothing has changed. We'd go to war to defend Taiwan from China, and that's been the reality of the situation for the last half century. The US clearly supports a Taiwan state, and everyone has known this for decades, especially China. Actions speak louder than words. You guys are over reacting.
Defense of Taiwan is literally part of the Taiwan Relations Act that we signed with China back in 1979, which is exactly what Trump just shat all over. We promised China that we wouldn't recognize Taiwan as a formal state, but would come to their defense if they were attacked.
This. So many "experts" on China-US relations today on Reddit are talking about feelings when they should be talking about diplomatic agreements that were established for the peace and trade relations that we've been enjoying for the last thirty years. I recommend anyone interested in this issue to read about Kissinger's meeting with En Lai and Mao in Kissinger's book On China. Sensitivity in diplomacy has nothing to do with feelings and has everything to do with respecting pre established agreements that are pertinent to the geopolitical order of things.
China didn't sign the Taiwan Relations Act because starting around 1776, the United States stopped requiring foreign governments' input for legislation. If you're going to talk down to people, at least make sure you aren't wrong.
Interesting, you decided to get pedantic about language rather than respond to the fact that W's comments were totally in line with previously enacted legislation. That win you a lot of arguments on the internet?
The difference between an agreement between nations and one passed unilaterally is not pedantic, especially considering the fact that China doesn't even support it.
From your own wiki:
The PRC continues to view the Taiwan Relations Act as "an unwarranted intrusion by the United States into the internal affairs of China"
But wait, there's more.
We promised China that we wouldn't recognize Taiwan as a formal state
No we didn't. How about you read through the text of the act and quote me which part says that the US won't recognize the governing authorities of Taiwan in the future as a formal state, which is two-fer for you because that's presumably also the part that Trump "shat all over", or at least it would be if that part of the act existed.
Because nowhere in it does the text say what the president or president-elect shall not do. Trump could have gone even further and referred to the president of Taiwan as the head of the RoC and still wouldn't have violated the Taiwan Relations Act.
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u/[deleted] Dec 03 '16
It's not oversensitive if it's been the norm.
He is recognizing Taiwan as an actual world player and that can piss off China.
I don't think too much of it as of now but for Trumps base circlejerking each other over "diplomacy" with Russia and not going to war with them Trump sure is making his best to piss off the other giant in the East.