China: Taiwan-Trump call won’t change one-China policy

BEIJING

China’s foreign minister insisted Saturday that a phone call between Taiwan’s leader and United States President-elect Donald Trump would not have an impact on the international community’s stance on the “one China” policy.

Wang Yi described the call from Tsai Ing-Wen as a "petty action" by Taiwan, which Beijing considers a breakaway province.

A statement released earlier by the Trump transition team said that during the conversation Friday, Trump and Tsai “noted the close economic, political, and security ties exists between Taiwan and the United States".

The conversation reportedly marked the first publicly reported telephone call between a U.S. president or president-elect and a Taiwanese leader since 1979, when Washington established diplomatic relations with Beijing and accepted the “one China” policy.

"I believe the call will not change the one-China policy the U.S. has been observing over many years," Wang said Saturday at a symposium in Beijing.

The China Daily reported him as describing the policy as “the political basis of the healthy development” of relations between the countries.

Spokesman Geng Shuang said Saturday that the ministry "lodged solemn representation" to the U.S. over the conversation.

"The one-China principle is the political basis for China-US ties. We urge relevant parties in the US to honor the one-China policy, observe the three joint communiques issued by China and the US, and to carefully and properly deal with issues concerning Taiwan so as to avoid unnecessary disturbances on the bigger picture of China-US ties," he said.

On his Twitter account, Trump -- who will take the oath of office Jan. 20 -- said Tsai had called to congratulate him on his election victory.

"Interesting how the U.S. sells Taiwan billions of dollars of military equipment but I should not accept a congratulatory call," he said in a separate tweet.