During a phone call on Thursday with Chinese President Xi Jinping, President Donald Trump said that he would honor the “one China” policy despite Trump’s impromptu call with the leader of Taiwan shortly after the election.
“President Donald J. Trump and President Xi Jinping of China had a lengthy telephone conversation on Thursday evening. The two leaders discussed numerous topics and President Trump agreed, at the request of President Xi, to honor our ‘one China’ policy,” the White House said in a statement on the call. “Representatives of the United States and China will engage in discussions and negotiations on various issues of mutual interest.”
After the election, Trump spoke by phone with the leader of Taiwan, breaching protocol and becoming the first U.S. president to speak by phone with Taiwan’s president in decades.
After the call, China issued a warning to the United States and urged Trump to honor the “one China” policy, through which the U.S. acknowledges that Taiwan is part of China and the only Chinese government is the People’s Republic.
A few days after the call, it was revealed that Trump’s conversation with Taiwan’s president was the result of a months-long lobbying effort by Bob Dole on behalf of Taiwan.
