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Trump sets the stage for US-China tensions

Published Fri, Dec 16, 2016 · 09:50 PM

    DeeperDive is a beta AI feature. Refer to full articles for the facts.

    1. What do you think was the most remarkable thing that happened this week?

    For potential impact, especially on our region, but also globally, nothing matches President-elect Donald Trump's provocation of China on the issue of the "One China policy". Let's just recap what happened:

    It all started on December 2 with a 10-minute congratulatory phone call from Taiwan's leader Tsai Ing-wen to Mr Trump. That he took the call was already a breach of diplomatic protocol. Since 1979, the United States has had no diplomatic relations with Taiwan and (like most other countries) has accepted China's sovereignty over the territory - even though it maintains economic and cultural relations. After the call, Mr Trump referred to Ms Tsai in a tweet as "President of Taiwan" - which again, breached protocol by implying that Taiwan was a sovereign state.

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