Trump's Phone Talk With Taiwan Leader 'Courtesy Call' - Vice President-Elect

Sputnik News

18:01 04.12.2016(updated 18:23 04.12.2016)

Vice President-elect Mike Pence described a phone talk between Donald Trump and the Taiwan leader as "a courtesy call".

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – US President-elect Donald Trump's call with Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen was merely a formal demonstration of courtesy, Vice President-elect Mike Pence said on Sunday.

"That was nothing more than taking a courtesy call and congratulations from the democratically elected leader of Taiwan," Pence told ABC News.

Washington will deal with its policy toward China and Taiwan after January 20, he said, answering a question on whether the Trump administration would continue the "One China" approach.

Trump spoke with Tsai on Friday in a move that broke with the White House's four-decade-long policy on what Beijing considers its breakaway province.

Trump emphasized in a tweet the talks were not his initiative and added that President Tsai congratulated him on his November 8 victory.

After Chinese Nationalist forces were defeated by Mao Zedong's Communists, the Nationalist government moved to Taiwan in 1949. Since then, Beijing has viewed the self-ruled, democratic island as a breakaway province. The United States, along with many other countries, does not recognize Taiwan as a sovereign nation and sticks officially to a "One China" position, but has kept informal relations with the island after severing diplomatic ties with it in 1979.

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