NOVEMBER 11, 2024
President-elect Donald Trump (R) looks on Chinese President Xi Jinping during the plenary session at the G20 Summit on July 7, 2017 in Hamburg, Germany. Mikhail Svetlov/Getty
China has warned President-elect Donald Trump to handle issues related to Taiwan “prudently” to avoid “severely damaging” relations between Beijing and Washington.
Beijing, which views Taiwan as a breakaway province, pledged to take “all necessary measures” to uphold its “One China” principle. Under the first Trump administration, Washington and Beijing went toe-to-toe on trade, tariffs and tech.
In response to a question about Trump and Taiwan, Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in the U.S., told Newsweek: “The Taiwan question is the most important and most sensitive issue in China-U.S. relations.
“The U.S. government needs to earnestly abide by the One China principle and the three China-U.S. joint communiqués and prudently handle Taiwan-related issues so as to avoid severe damage to China-U.S. relations and cross-Strait peace and stability.”
Newsweek has contacted the Trump campaign for comment via email.
This comes after the U.S. announced it will be providing Taiwan with a surface-to-air missile defense system as part of a $2 billion arms package in response to escalating tensions with China.
The arms package, which was approved in October, includes three National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems and related equipment valued at up to $1.16 billion, according to the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs. It also features radar systems estimated to be worth $828 million.
In response, the Chinese Embassy said: “The sales seriously undermine China’s sovereignty and security interests, harm China-U.S. relations and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, and send a gravely wrong message to ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces. China strongly condemns and firmly opposes this and has lodged serious protests with the U.S.”
The U.S., Taiwan’s closest ally, maintains strong ties with the island, which is crucial to Western foreign policy and influence in the Indo-Pacific region.
U.S. relations with China and Taiwan are complex, and the “One China” policy, established in the 1970s, is central to this relationship. Under this, the U.S. acknowledges Beijing’s stance that there is only one China, including Taiwan, while not explicitly endorsing China’s sovereignty over Taiwan. This ambiguous stance allows the U.S. to maintain unofficial relations with Taiwan, supporting it in various ways without officially recognizing it as an independent state.
Meanwhile, Beijing cautioned Trump that raising tariffs on Chinese goods could harm the American economy.
During his campaign, Trump pledged to impose 60 percent tariffs on all Chinese exports, a move that would significantly impact China’s economy. Tariffs are central to Trump’s “America First” economic strategy, designed to protect U.S. industries and stimulate domestic growth.
Dean of the School of Business and Management at Notre Dame de Namur University John M. Veitch told Newsweek, “there will be significant losses to the economy” if a trade war is reignited.
“China is not in a particularly strong economic situation right now. They have seen weakening in important sectors like construction and real estate,” he said. “Their central bank has recently implemented new monetary policies and tools to try to stimulate capital markets and the economy broadly.
“Trade wars always have very asymmetric impacts on an economy—overall consumers will lose as they pay higher prices for imported goods and likely higher prices for U.S. goods whose prices were previously held in check by possible imports. This will be a large loss to the economy as a whole and probably a loss that consumers themselves will feel, especially given U.S. consumer sensitivity to past inflation.”
In response to Trump’s comments suggesting he would impose “massive tariffs” on China if it “went into Taiwan” and that Taiwan might have to pay for U.S. protection, a spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said the people of Taiwan had a clear understanding of U.S. policy.
“Whether the United States is trying to protect or harm Taiwan, I believe most of our Taiwan compatriots have already made a rational judgment and know very clearly that what the United States pursues is always America first,” Zhu Fenglian told a regular news briefing.
“Taiwan at any time may turn from a pawn to a discarded child,” Fenglian said, without referring to Trump by name.
Courtesy/Source:Newsweek
