A stabilizing move or a concession to China?
The News Lens
Date: 2017/02/11
By: TNL Staff
U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) spoke by
Photo Credit: AP/達志影像
phone Friday morning, Beijing time.
The White House says that during the call, “President Trump agreed, at the request of President Xi, to honor our ‘one China’ policy.”
The position is a change from Trump’s earlier questioning of the policy. While the call has been mostly interpreted as stabilizing for shaky U.S.-China relations, others argue that the concession gives China an “upper hand” in the dynamic between the worlds two biggest economies.
In China, the state-owned Global Times notes in an editorial that “since assuming office, Trump and his team have changed their rhetoric about China. Trump has stopped openly challenging China’s core interests, and instead showed respect to Beijing. The change creates an impression that Trump is learning about his role in the realm of Sino-U.S. ties. He’s now sending a new message that he does not want to be a disruptor of the Sino-U.S. relations.” [FULL STORY]
