Trump accepted a “congratulatory phone call” from Taiwan’s President on Friday. As expected, China protested this perceived breach of the long standing U.S. One China policy. The policy has been in place since Nixon opened relations with China. In a nutshell, China claims sovereignty over Taiwan. Taiwan disagrees.
A media debate over the appropriateness of Trump’s action started immediately. It is also unclear if Taiwan or a Trump surrogate initiated the call. In response, Trump tweeted:
China owns $1.3 trillion of U.S. Government debt. Is it a smart strategy to pick an intentional or unintentional fight?
UPDATE: Good analysis from The Economist:
Here’s a link to the full story: http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2016/12/us-china-relations