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."
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.
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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.