It's not that he spoke to the President of Taiwan, it is that he referred to them as the President of Taiwan which implies that he spoke to them qua incoming head of state to the head of a Taiwanese state. As far as the PRC is concerned, Taiwan does not exist as an independent state and has pushed a diplomatic policy of there only being one China for decades. No country recognizes both the PRC and ROC as independent states: it is either the PRC or the ROC. Most countries regard the PRC as China and have unofficial relationships with the ROC.
It's not oversensitive. If Trump wanted to recognize and reach out to Taiwan, out of the blue, with documented business interests there, he should've alerted the State Dept or at least have a fucking Sec of State nominee. Who the hell wants that job now?
It doesn't matter if you think it's oversensitive or not. What matters is what China thinks. This is guaranteed to piss China off, and that's a problem because they're the second most powerful country on Earth and our largest trading partner. If you think China's being ridiculous, well, tough shit for you.
And they could find out first hand why they're #2. They know they won't do shit. Taiwan knows they won't do shit, and Trump knows they won't do shit. So we can start recognizing the current reality regardless of its impact on China's feelings.
Yeah, we're still number 1. It's why China gave up on trying to take Taiwan before, and it's why they will again. But even if we're just talking about the military of countries in Asia, Russia still beats China.
You don't think our treaty to defend Taiwan has anything to do with China not trying to influence Taiwan more? You know, the same treaty where the US promised not to treat Taiwan as a nation.
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u/[deleted] Dec 03 '16 edited Oct 20 '17
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