Friday, February 10, 2017

After Silence From Xi, Trump Endorses One China Policy - The New York Times

We have pursued the contradictory one China policy in which we recognize the PRC and maintain no official ties with Taiwan - the Republic of China.  We have however sold billions of dollars of arms to the island which China claims but cannot control.
After initial bluster about abandoning that policy Trump has now eaten some crow.  We will continue to endorse the longtanding commitment. - gwc
After Silence From Xi, Trump Endorses One China Policy - The New York Times
by Mark Landler and Michael Forsythe
WASHINGTON — When the White House announced this week that President Trump had sent President Xi Jinping of China a letter wishing him a happy Chinese New Year, it did not disclose a major reason for the friendly gesture: Mr. Xi had not, at that point, gotten on the phone with Mr. Trump.
That changed on Thursday night, when the two leaders had what the White House described as a “lengthy conversation” during which Mr. Trump agreed to honor the “One China” policy the president had previously refused to commit to uphold.
Stung by an earlier, and unorthodox, telephone call between Mr. Trump and the president of Taiwan, Mr. Xi had not spoken to the American leader since Nov. 14, the week after he was elected. Administration officials had predicted a conversation would come only after Mr. Trump publicly committed to recognizing a single Chinese government in Beijing.
And so Mr. Trump, during what the White House called “a lengthy telephone conversation,” formally and officially bent to Beijing.
Continue reading the main story
“The two leaders discussed numerous topics and President Trump agreed, at the request of President Xi, to honor our One China policy,” the White House said in a statement released late Thursday night. It said the discussion was “extremely cordial” and that the presidents “extended invitations to meet in their respective countries.”

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