In a tweet Saturday, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) rushed to support President-elect Donald Trump after Trump was criticized for taking a phone call with Taiwan and jeopardizing U.S. and China relations.
I would much rather have Donald Trump talking to President Tsai than to Cuba’s Raul Castro or Iran’s Hasan Rouhani. This is an improvement.
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) December 3, 2016
China does not recognize Taiwan as a legitimate government and therefore Trump’s taking the phone call from Taiwan could impact U.S.-China relations.
On Friday, Trump’s call to Taiwan became a major news story as it violated decades-worth of precedent and led to questions about the president elect’s intentions and his ability to navigate geopolitics. It also upset China, which released a statement Saturday reminding Trump and the United States of the “one China” policy.