Andrei Korneyev, deputy director of the Institute of Asian and African Studies in Moscow, said that Donald Trump’s election has caused serious concern in Beijing about a possible change in the US foreign policy, with some analysts predicting inevitable conflicts in bilateral relations that could be fraught with a military showdown.
The call came at a time of heightened tensions between Taiwan and China since the election of Tsai Ing-wen’s pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) earlier this year.
“What is important, however, is that despite the controversial statements made by Trump and his transitional team, China still hopes that reason will eventually prevail and Chinese-US relations will progress in a constructive way,” Korneyev told Sputnik China.
“In an interview with Renmin Ribao, Wang Yi said that shortly after Mr. Trump’s election, Chinese President Xi Jinping got in touch with him and the two underscored their shared desire to maintain close ties between their two countries,” Andrei Korneyev told Sputnik China.
“Wang Yi said that mutual respect and attention to each other’s frundamental interests and concerns hold the key to long-lasting and stable cooperation, which he described as ‘a historical tendency that no one can change at will,’” Korneyev noted.
He added that even though the Chinese foreign Minister didn’t mention Donald Trump by name, it was exactly the US President-elect he had in mind.
“Many experts see this as a clear signal to the new US Administration that any attempts to reconsider America’s long-standing policy on China [whereby Washington shifted diplomatic recognition of China from the government in Taiwan to Beijing] could lead to a complete destabilization of relations between the two countries,” Andrei Korneyev concluded.
The inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States will take place on Friday, January 20, 2017, in Washington, D.C.
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