Taiwan

Following Trump's Friday night interview with the WSJ, in which the president-elect suggested he would use any available leverage to realign the U.S.’s relationship with its two biggest global strategic rivals, China and Russia, Beijing responded promptly when China's foreign ministry said on Saturday that its "One China" principle was the non-negotiable political basis for China-U.S. relations, and urged all "relevant parties" in the United States to recognize the sensitivity of the Taiwan issue.

While much of America was preparing to listen to Obama speak one final time, the Chinese had far less lofty ambitions, and on Wednesday morning Beijing sent a group of Chinese warships led by China's sole aircraft carrier north through the Taiwan Strait, resulting in Taiwan scrambling jets and navy ships in the latest sign of heightened tensions between China and the self-ruled Taiwan.

Around the time Taiwan's president Tsai Ing-wen, who last month infamously spoke to Trump putting the long-standing "One China" policy in jeopardy, made a controversial stopover in Houston, China's state-run tabloid Global Times warned U.S. President-elect Donald Trump that China would "take revenge" if he reneged on the one-China policy. 

While Donald Trump is tweeting his new year's greetings to his friends, and especially enemies, China is thinking three weeks ahead to the day the president-elect is officially inaugurated, and is worried what that could mean for a suddenly empowered Taiwan, whose outreach to Trump now means that the long-standing "One China" policy is now a topic of negotiation.  As a result, Reuters reports that China's military, alarmed by Trump's support of Taiwan, is considering strong measures to prevent the island from moving toward independence.

As reported yesterday, tensions between China and Taiwan rose again when Beijing sailed its only aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, which over the weekend was "shown off" conducting dramatic military drills, around the southern tip of Taiwan passing southeast of the Pratas Islands, which are controlled by Taiwan, heading southwest.