Last December, then U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said on Fox News Sunday, “I don’t know why we have to be bound by a ‘one China’ policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade.”
In response to Trump’s remarks, Global Times, a subsidiary of the Chinese Communist Party’s flagship newspaper People’s Daily, published an editorial the following day, December 12, 2016, questioning why China cannot openly support enemies of the United States.
The editorial acknowledged that Western media could have got it right, that Trump’s taking a congratulatory phone call from Taiwan’s president on December 2 could indicate that he was willing to trade the ‘one China’ policy for his short term gains.
Global Times went on to ridicule Trump’s business orientation as well as his lack of diplomatic savviness, observing that Trump figured that he could place a price on everything. Global Times posed the question, “How much would the U.S. constitution be worth if we ask Americans to trade it for an alternate political system of U.S. allies, such as Saudi Arabia or Singapore.
The editorial went on, “It appears that China has to engage in a round of resolute fighting and, through some setbacks, Trump may realize that he cannot easily take advantage of China or other forces in the world.”
The Global Times‘ editorial made it clear that, in case Trump gives up on the “one China” policy, publicly supports “Taiwan independence,” and sells weapons to Taiwan without restraint, there would be no need for Beijing to resist or cut ties with those forces that are against the U.S. The Global Times asked, “Why can we not publicly support them or provide them with weapons in private?”
The editorial asked, “When Trump publicly renounces the ‘one China’ policy, is there any more need for Beijing to attach more priority to peaceful unification than to claiming Taiwan by force?”
It concluded that the days were long gone when the U.S. dominated the Taiwan strait; in the end, the forces of Taiwan independence will grow so scared, its administration will regret having acted as a pawn of Trump, and their leader may refuse to take phone calls that Trump has initiated.
Source:
Global Times, December 12, 2016
http://opinion.huanqiu.com/editorial/2016-12/9797239.html