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Trump Hasn't Even Taken Office Yet, but He's Already Provoking a Diplomatic Crisis With China

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lawhawk12/02/2016 5:43:00 pm PST

Here’s a report from the Taipei Times, which provides some background, but doesn’t quite get the timing or who initiated the call to whom.

Trump reportedly agreed to the call, which was arranged by his Taiwan-friendly campaign staff after his aides briefed him on issues regarding Taiwan and the situation in the Taiwan Strait, sources said.
Since being elected, Trump has spoken with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Park Geun-hye.

International relations experts said that a communication channel was lacking between Taiwan and the US, and that bilateral communications had to be carried out through the American Institute in Taiwan, the US Department of State and the US National Security Council, which at times gave rise to poor communications — for example, the friction between former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) administration and that of former US president George W. Bush.

If the telephone conversation between Tsai and Trump could prompt the establishment of a direct communications channel between the two sides, misunderstandings would be reduced, thereby benefiting the relationship, experts said.

In related news, Stephen Yates, who was deputy security advisor to former US vice president Dick Cheney, is in Taiwan.

There’s quite a bit of passive voice here - which doesn’t clarify who called whom, let alone what was stated.