Some critics portrayed the move as the thoughtless blundering of a foreign policy novice, but other experts say it appears more calculated, planned in advance to signal a new, robust approach to relations with China. The phone call does not necessarily mean that will happen, but it does look like the first sign of a recalibration by a future Trump administration, experts say. The goal was to address and amend counterproductive "protocols" that prohibit direct contact between the US president and Taiwan's leader, she wrote. The call looks like an attempt to test the waters of a new approach before Trump becomes president, experts said: After the inauguration, a similar move would have had more serious diplomatic ramifications. That approach would strike horror in the minds of foreign policy experts, but the idea that Trump should be congratulated by the democratically elected leader of Taiwan did not meet universal condemnation.

Source: New Zealand Herald December 04, 2016 19:27 UTC