Analysis | Phone call fallout: how analysts see China reacting
Beijing is unlikely to view the exchange between Trump and Tsai as crossing a red line, they say. Rather, the leadership will take a wait and see approach, while seeking ways to punish Taiwan
The phone call between US president-elect Donald Trump and Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has renewed uncertainties over the future development of Sino-US ties.
Analysts said that Beijing doesn’t yet have enough leverage to blame Washington for the breach in diplomacy – no sitting US president or president elect has officially spoken with a leader of Taiwan since the United States switched diplomatic recognition in 1979. But Beijing was likely to exert more pressure on Taiwan, which Beijing sees as renegade province, they said.
The phone call, which came late on Friday and lasted about 10 minutes, also suggested Trump would elevate Taiwanese issues under his administration, a move Beijing would view with greater alarm than US arms sales to the self-ruled island, they added.
Zhang Yuquan, a professor of international relations at Sun Yat-sen University, said the talk set a very bad precedent for Sino-US ties under Trump, but Beijing may not rush to take counter measures against the US.