MODERATION and careful planning have not exactly been watchwords for the Trump administration so far. But the relationship between China and America seems important enough that, in dealing with it, America’s president has decided (for now) to eschew his usual penchant for shock, awe and improvisation.
During an “extremely cordial” phone call with Xi Jinping, his opposite number, on February 9th, Donald Trump agreed to honour his country’s long-standing “one-China policy”, according to the White House. It said Mr Trump made this commitment “at the request of President Xi”. China regards the policy—which it interprets as confirming its sovereign claim to Taiwan—as the basis for its relationship with the United States. Mr Xi had refused to talk to Mr Trump until the American president committed himself to it.
Mr Trump’s decision to reassert what has been his country’s policy for almost 40 years (though the wording of it does not explicitly accept China’s sovereignty over Taiwan) was the culmination of a week of old-fashioned diplomacy far removed from government-by-tweet. On February 3rd Michael Flynn, Mr Trump’s...Continue reading
Source: China http://ift.tt/2kk39Ok
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