Trump warns China to play by the rules as state media sounds Taiwan warning

WASHINGTON/BEIJING — United States President-elect Donald Trump vowed that China would soon have to “play by the rules” of international trade, as Chinese state media issued its clearest warning yet about its bottom line on Taiwan.

“China is responsible for almost half of America’s trade deficit,” Mr Trump said at a rally early on Friday (Dec 9) in Des Moines, Iowa. “China is not a market economy ... they haven’t played by the rules, and they know it’s time that they’re going to start. They’re going to start. They’re going to.”

At the rally, Mr Trump introduced Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, his nominee for the ambassador to China. Although Mr Branstad has a three-decade personal relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping, he will face a Chinese government already on edge over Mr Trump’s criticism of the country, including last week’s unprecedented call with Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen.

“I know that China has been so tough and so competitive and frankly dealing with people that didn’t get it,” Mr Trump said. “But we’re going to have mutual respect, and we’re going to benefit and China’s going to benefit and Terry’s going to lead the way.”

However, state-owned newspaper China Daily warned in an editorial on Friday that Mr Trump will face “serious” repercussions should he attempt to revise US policy towards Taiwan. 

“Trump may be a shrewd businessman, adroit in commercial deal-cutting. He might have taken a page from his business manual — make a rigorous opening bid, then settle for less,” it said. “But make no mistake about it: Taiwan stands on top of China’s menu of core national interests, and is not negotiable.

“If he is misled by his advisers for whatever reason into believing that unnegotiables are negotiable, in this case the One China principle regarding Taiwan, the consequences could be serious.”

Mr Trump took a historic congratulatory telephone call from Ms Tsai on Dec 2, which is the first direct communication with a Taiwanese leader by a US President or President-elect since President Jimmy Carter switched diplomatic recognition to China from Taiwan in 1979, acknowledging Taiwan as part of “One China”. 

Beijing regards the island as a renegade province, to be taken back by force one day, if necessary.

While China lodged a “solemn representation” over the call and urged the US authorities to adhere to the One China principle, it stopped short of criticising the US President-elect. 

Mr Trump’s advisers have said the call was planned in advance.

China Daily said on Friday if the call was “a long-planned move as reported and was meant to remind Beijing that it is dealing with a different kind of US President, it need not have happened in the first place, since Beijing is well aware of that”. 

“If, as some analysts have observed, the call was Trump’s ‘opening negotiation bid’ for the future of Sino-US ties under his administration, it was rather ill-advised. The consensus on One China has served as the ultimate ballast for China-US relations for nearly four decades, and not without reason.”

Professor Jean-Pierre Cabestan, an expert of political science at Hong Kong Baptist University, said the editorial was intended to send Mr Trump a warning that it, too, was willing to play hard ball. China may have underestimated the foreign policy consequences of Mr Trump’s victory over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the US election, Prof Cabestan said.

“China was blinded by its hate of Hillary, but did not realise that it is getting a much more offensive US President, supported by a very anti-communist and ambitious Republican Party,” he said in reference to Mrs Clinton. “Taiwan is going to be part of this game, instrumentalised by the Trump administration much more than by Obama, as a leverage of what could be called a ‘super-rebalancing strategy’.” BLOOMBERG