China would not take change in US policy on Taiwan lightly, Obama says

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US President Barack Obama speaks at his final news conference of the year in White House. Photo: Washington

Published: 10:59am, 17 Dec 2016Updated: 10:10pm, 17 Dec 2016

President Barack Obama said on Friday it was fine for president-elect Donald Trump to review Washington’s “one-China” policy toward Taiwan, but he cautioned that a shift could lead to significant consequences in the US relationship with Beijing.

“For China, the issue of Taiwan is as important as anything on their docket,” Obama said at a news conference. “The idea of one China is at the heart of their conception as a nation and so if you are going to upend this understanding, you have to have thought through what ... the consequences are.”

The idea of one China is at the heart of their conception as a nation and so if you are going to upend this understanding, you have to have thought through what ... the consequences are

President Barack Obama

China lodged a diplomatic protest earlier this month after Trump, a Republican, spoke by phone with President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan. The 10-minute telephone call was the first of its kind by a US president-elect or president since President Jimmy Carter switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979, acknowledging Taiwan as part of “one China”.

China considers Taiwan a wayward province, to be taken back by force if necessary.

Obama noted that, under the decades-old policy, China had recognised Taiwan was its own entity that did things its own way, while Taiwan had agreed that, with some autonomy, it would not charge ahead and declare independence.

“That status quo, although not completely satisfactory to any of the parties involved, has kept the peace and allowed the Taiwanese to be a pretty successful ... economy and a people who have a high degree of self-determination,” Obama said.