Chinese state-run media have lashed out at U. S. President-elect Donald Trump’s recent comments on Taiwan, with one newspaper calling the issue a “Pandora’s box of lethal potential” that could upend the two powers’ relationship.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal published Friday, Trump again raised the prospect of using Taiwan as a bargaining chip in Sino-U. S. relations, saying that “everything is under negotiation, including ‘one China.’”
In an editorial Sunday, the China Daily newspaper said that Beijing had endeavored to give Trump “the benefit of the doubt twice” after his unprecedented December phone call with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen and his remarks later that month that the “U. S. would not be bound by the ‘one-China’ policy.” However, the editorial said, “doing the same wrong for a third time shows intent.”
“Taiwan has been off limits in China-U. S. diplomacy thanks to the understanding that it is a Pandora’s box of lethal potential, and that opening it may upend the hard-earned, firmly held fundamentals governing the relationship,” the editorial said.
“If Trump is determined to use this gambit on taking office, a period of fierce, damaging interactions will be unavoidable, as Beijing will have no choice but to take off the gloves,” it added.
China’s Foreign Ministry has called the “one-China” policy “nonnegotiable,” but has refrained from taking the harsh line seen in state-run media, which has warned of looming conflict if the Trump team continues to press the Taiwan issue.
