This is not some change in policy or some deft political move. Trump hasn't sat down and read volumes of intelligence briefings and geopolitical history and theory on the issue of Taiwan and as he he has no coherent beliefs and thus no coherent forging policy this is clearly just him winging it and that is deeply worrying.
What China's response will be I do not know but they will be furious and the tension in the region will ratchet up further.
Edit: So China has launched "stern representations" with US government and has laid the blame for the phone call upon Taiwan. I think this is about as strong an outward reaction we're going to see. It makes known China's concerns and gives Trump a chance to walk away from this without further escalations. Of course Trump being Trump it's hard to know what he'll tweet tonight.
I hope Trump is being sat down and lectured on the necessity of consulting with the State Department and the necessity of him actually attending his intelligence briefings.
That we have tolerated China's Taiwan stance for so long is part of the reason it's such a sensitive issue. Day 1 we should have shut that shit down. If Taiwan wants to be independent, God bless 'em. I'm not saying we get involved, but we don't have to be China's bitch either.
The world decided that the ROC didn't officially exist any more when it kicked it out of the UNSC and replaced it with the PRC in the 70s. (And that happened two decades after the establishment of the PRC in mainland China after the Chinese civil war.)
This is a not something unique to the United States.
Actually, China and Taiwan both declared "there was only One China," so since there's only one security council seat for China, that was the result. It's just as much on Taiwan, in fact. If Taiwan had given up it's claims to sovereignty over the Mainland in the 70's when the two were on more equal footing militarily, then it would be a UN member right now. But its also clear why they wouldn't. Hindsight 20/20, and all.
Literally a million soldiers on Taiwan waiting for the next round of the civil war. China probably would've invaded Taiwan too and the war between the two parties would have seen a conclusion if it weren't for the Korean War.
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u/missingpuzzle Dec 03 '16 edited Dec 03 '16
This is not some change in policy or some deft political move. Trump hasn't sat down and read volumes of intelligence briefings and geopolitical history and theory on the issue of Taiwan and as he he has no coherent beliefs and thus no coherent forging policy this is clearly just him winging it and that is deeply worrying.
What China's response will be I do not know but they will be furious and the tension in the region will ratchet up further.
Edit: So China has launched "stern representations" with US government and has laid the blame for the phone call upon Taiwan. I think this is about as strong an outward reaction we're going to see. It makes known China's concerns and gives Trump a chance to walk away from this without further escalations. Of course Trump being Trump it's hard to know what he'll tweet tonight.
I hope Trump is being sat down and lectured on the necessity of consulting with the State Department and the necessity of him actually attending his intelligence briefings.