President-elect Donald Trump’s repeated questioning of the “one China” policy has stirred “serious concerns” in China.
China’s foreign ministry warned that cooperation “is out of the question” if the U.S. refuses to accept the “one China” policy and respect China’s core interests.
The U.S. has embraced the one China Policy since 1972, when Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger met Chairman Mao Zedong. In 1978, Jimmy Carter recognized the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the only China.
U.S.-China tensions spiked after Trump accepted a call from Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on Dec. 2. Chinese officials said an inexperienced Trump fell prey to a “petty trick” by Taiwan and called Trump a “diplomatic rookie.”
But, Trump revealed Sunday that he knew exactly what he was doing.
“I fully understand the ‘one China’ policy, but I don’t know why we have to be bound by a ‘one China’ policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News Sunday.
“China has noted the report and expresses serious concern about it. I want to stress that the Taiwan issue concerns China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and involves China’s core interests,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Geng Shuang said during Monday’s press conference.
“Upholding the ‘one China’ principle is the political basis for developing China-U.S. ties. If this basis is interfered with or damaged then the healthy development of China-U.S. relations and bilateral cooperation in important areas is out of the question.”
Chinese media took an even more aggressive stance.