China may end cooperation with US over Trump remarks: Beijing

The Chinese government says it is “seriously concerned” by US President-elect Donald Trump’s recent remarks signaling that he may end Washington’s commitment to the so-called One China policy.

Under the policy, the self-ruled Taiwan is considered part of Chinese territory. The US has been committed to that policy since 1979, when it cut official ties with Taipei and recognized Chinese sovereignty over Taiwan.

However, Trump, who has been taking calls from foreign leaders in a freewheeling style since being elected US president on November 8, acted in breach of that long-standing protocol when he talked to Taiwan’s leader, Tsai Ing-wen, on the phone earlier this month.

Later, when asked in a Fox News interview about the call, Trump stood his ground. He said he did not know “why we have to be bound by a ‘One China policy’ unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade.”

‘The bedrock of relations with US’

On Monday, the Chinese government said the US dropping the “One China” policy could result in China ending cooperation with the US in major fields.

If the principle is “compromised or disrupted, the sound and steady growth of China-US relations as well as bilateral cooperation in major fields would be out of the question,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang on Monday.

He said that Beijing considered Taiwan a “core interest” that affects China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and that adherence to the “One China” policy was the “political bedrock” for relations with the US.

Earlier on Monday, a Chinese paper warned Trump that China might “arm” US enemies if his incoming administration did not adhere to the “One China” policy.

The Chinese-language daily Global Times said in a Monday online commentary, which did not carry a by-line, that the “One China” policy was “non-negotiable.”

‘As ignorant as a child’

A businessman with no background in governance or diplomacy, Trump has in words and behavior signaled his preference for business profit over perceived political normality.

In its Monday commentary, the Chinese Global Times said, “The One China policy cannot be traded,” and called Trump “as ignorant of diplomacy as a child.”

It said in solemn wording that if the US openly supported Taiwan’s independence from China under Trump, China could aid “forces hostile to the US.”

“Why couldn’t we publicly support them, or secretly sell arms to them?” it said, without specifying who it was referring to.

The Global Times is published under the auspices of The People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party.

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