On Sunday evening, President-elect Trump took to Twitter to share some of his thoughts on China and the policies in place between the Asian country and the United States. Following a controversial phone call with Taiwan’s leader, Tsai Ing-wen, Trump was the recipient of backlash from both the Obama Administration and China, angered that he overstepped U.S. diplomacy and conversed with an adversary of the Chinese. President-elect Trump, who stood behind his actions and downplayed the issue of the phone call, decided to speak out against China for trying to dictate what the incoming leader of the U.S. should do.
In the span of two tweets, President-elect Donald Trump made the statement:
“Did China ask us if it was O.K. to devalue their currency (making it hard for our companies to compete), heavily tax our products going into their country (the U.S. doesn’t tax them) or to build a massive military complex in the middle of the South China Sea? I don’t think so!”
Last week, Donald Trump got into some hot water with critics after the phone call with the leader of Taiwan. Those opposed to him taking the call accused the President-elect of undermining relations with China by conversing with their adversary. On Monday, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest took to the podium and told reporters that the Obama Administration was committed to the “One China” policy and they wanted to “reiterate and clarify the continued commitment of the United States to our longstanding China policy.”
“If the president-elect’s team has a different aim, I’ll leave it to them to describe,” Earnest said.
“The Chinese government in Beijing placed an enormous priority on this situation, and it’s a sensitive matter. Some of the progress that we have made in our relationship with China could be undermined by this issue flaring up,” he continued.
President-elect Trump defended his Friday phone call in another duo of tweets following the incident:
“The President of Taiwan CALLED ME today to wish me congratulations on winning the Presidency. Thank you!” he said.
In another Tweet about an hour later he added: “Interesting how the U.S. sells Taiwan billions of dollars of military equipment but I should not accept a congratulatory call.”
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