What has Donald Trump been saying about the one-China policy since his election victory?
US President reaffirms one-China policy – the basis of Sino-US relations since the 1970s – at the request of China’s President Xi Jinping in Friday phone call
Donald Trump made his first phone call as US President to his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, on Friday morning, during which he reaffirmed the one-China policy at Xi’s request.
This signalled an about-face by Trump, who had questioned on several occasions the long-standing policy’s validity since his election victory in November.
The one-China policy, which recognises that Taiwan is part of China, has been seen as the basis of Sino-US relations since the 1970s.
Here we take a look at what Trump has been saying on the subject in the past few months.
December 2, 2016
After Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen’s phone call to then-President-elect Trump, he defends his decision to take her call, tweeting that it was merely to congratulate him on his victory. “Interesting how the US sells Taiwan billions of dollars of military equipment but I should not accept a congratulatory call,” his tweet reads.
December 11
