Donald Trump, the President-elect has said he would revisit trade relations with China and bring back American companies based there [Xinhua]
Tension between China and the US over President-elect Donald Trump’s phone call with his Taiwanese counterpart Tsai Ing-wen escalated today when Chinese officials warned they opposed relations between Taipei and Washington.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang told reporters at a daily press briefing Friday that The Taiwan issue, with particular emphasis on China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, is the most crucial factor affecting Beijing-Washington ties.
“China’s stance is consistent and clear, and well known to the international community,” he said, adding that Beijing opposed military ties between Taiwan and the US.
His comments came in regards to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed by the US senate and the House of Representatives which stipulates military exchange between Taiwan and the US.
Lu said that China has complained to the US several times about the NDAA.
“The U.S. side should cautiously handle the issue and not to turn back the wheels of history, so as to avoid disturbance to the China-US relations,” Lu said.
Trump had also been quoted by US media as being critical of China’s policies on trade and the economy as well as North Korea.
This is the second time in a week that Taiwan emerges as a potential stumbling block in China-US relations after North American media a growing divide between the two powers since Trump took a ‘congratulatory’ call from Tsai.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the time dismissed the call as a “petty trick” and said it doesn’t change the reality of Washington’s stable ties with Beijing.
“This is just the Taiwan side engaging in a petty action, and cannot change the ‘one China’ structure already formed by the international community,” Wang said at an academic forum in Beijing, state media reported.
The BRICS Post with inputs from Agencies
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