“President-elect Trump also congratulated President Tsai on becoming president of Taiwan earlier this year.”Beijing sought to play down the importance of the phone call, with foreign minister Wang Yi dismissing it as “just a small trick” by Taiwan. “Regardless if it was deliberate or accidental, this phone call will fundamentally change China’s perceptions of Trump’s strategic intentions for the negative. The traditional US diplomatic formulation for referring to Taiwan’s leader - one specifically designed not to upset Beijing - is “the president on Taiwan” rather than “the president of Taiwan”. “If the US starts to change the ‘one China’ policy, that puts US-China relations into uncharted territory,” he said. The Taiwan News website reported that Eric Trump, the incoming president’s son, was also planning a trip to Taiwan this year.

Source: The Guardian December 03, 2016 00:04 UTC