WASHINGTON – U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to honour the “one China” policy during a phone call with China’s leader Xi Jinping, in what appears to be a major breakthrough between US-China ties in terms of ‘Taiwan’ factor.
A White House statement said Trump and Chinese President Xi had a lengthy phone conversation on Thursday night.
‘President Trump agreed, at the request of President Xi, to honour our ‘one China’ policy,’ the statement said.
“Representatives of the United States and China will engage in discussions and negotiations on various issues of mutual interest,” the statement added.
In a separate statement read out on Chinese state television, Xi said China appreciated Trump’s upholding of the ‘one China’ policy.
According to the statement, Xi expressed that he believed the United States and China were cooperative partners and through joint efforts they could push bilateral relations to a historic new high.
‘The development of China and the United States absolutely can complement each other and advance together. Both sides absolutely can become very good cooperative partners,’ Xi said.
This was the first telephonic contact between recently sworn in Trump and China although Trump left China angry in December by talking to the president of Taiwan and saying the United States did not have to stick to the one China policy.
America’s one China policy endorses China’s policy suggesting that Taiwan was a part of China.
What surprised the international media is the fact that Trump became the first president-elect or president after 1979 to have talked to Taiwan’s leader and that too in an informal manner.
Trump’s telephonic conversation are becoming point of debate and discussion with each passing day. Last week, the Washington Post published details regarding an acrimonious phone call between Trump and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
