Do you remember how Donald Trump took a call with Taiwan’s president Tsai Ing-wen, thumbing his nose at decades of foreign policy precedent? Or when he criticized the country’s economic and military policy in a series of night tweets? Or when he said on Fox News Sunday that he doesn’t know “why we have to be bound by a ‘one-China’ policy” unless we’re getting something out of it? Yeah, so does China!
“The one-China policy is not something that can be negotiated,” the editorial read. “It seems Trump needs to study foreign affairs humbly. He particularly needs to learn what the relationship between China and U.S. is about. Many people will be amazed by how ‘business-minded’ the new U.S. leader is, and how he is as ignorant as a child in terms of foreign policy.”
The editorial added, according to CNN, that if Trump abandoned the policy, it would lead to “a real crisis.”
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang also issued a statement saying the government body was “seriously concerned” with Trump’s remarks.
“I want to stress that the Taiwan question has a bearing on China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said. “Adhering to the ‘one-China’ principle is the political bedrock for the development of U.S.-China relations. If it is comprised [sic] or disrupted, the sound and steady growth of the bilateral relationship, as well as bilateral cooperation in major fields would be out of the question.”
To top it off, in an almost hilariously scary flex, China flew a Xian H-6 bomber around a cluster of disputed islands called the “Nine-dash line” in the South China Sea. The move—the U.S. has done it too—typically is deployed as a signal that the country isn’t happy.
The New York Times reports that if Trump continues Trumping, China could powerfully fuck the U.S. in a number of areas, including Iran, North Korea, the economy, and climate change (which America will shortly cease to recognize as a real thing, probably). So here’s a question, mostly for Donald—if you refuse to acknowledge something is a threat, can it still bury your house in a sandstorm?
