The endorsement by the President of the United States, Donald Trump of the one-China policy during a telephonic conversation with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, has cleared the air for a substantive dialogue between Washington and Beijing that is likely to re-rail ties between the world’s largest and second largest economy.
A White House statement said that Mr. Trump and President Xi spoke at length on the phone on Thursday night, Washington time.
“President Trump agreed, at the request of President Xi, to honour our ‘one China’ policy,” the statement said. The White House described the call as “extremely cordial.”
Damage control
China had been angered by earlier remarks by Mr. Trump, questioning Beijing’s sovereignty over Taiwan under the one-China principle.
“By mentioning the need for a constructive relationship with China and one-China principle, which is fundamental to China, President Trump has shown that we can now move to discuss other issues concerning the two countries such as currency and trade,” said Wang Yiwei, professor of international studies at Renmin University, in a conversation with The Hindu .
“Representatives of the United States and China will engage in discussions and negotiations on various issues of mutual interest,” the statement said.
Xi-Trump meet soon?
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said on Friday that China and the U.S. were discussing the early convening of a possible meeting of the two Presidents.
“The leaders of the countries expect the meeting to take place soon. The sides maintain close working contacts on the top-level interaction between the two countries,” the spokesperson said.
Following the telephonic conversation, a statement by the spokesman for Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen that it was in Taiwan's interest to maintain good relations with both the United States and China.
A separate statement by China’s Foreign Ministry, said that Mr. Xi appreciated Mr. Trump’s upholding of the “one-China” policy.
Xi hopes for new high in ties
“I believe that the United States and China are cooperative partners, and through joint efforts we can push bilateral relations to a historic new high,” the statement quoted Mr. Xi as saying.
“The development of China and the United States absolutely can complement each other and advance together. Both sides absolutely can become very good cooperative partners,” he observed.
The Foreign Ministry statement said that China wanted cooperation with the United States on trade, investment, technology, energy and infrastructure, as well as strengthening coordination on international matters to jointly protect global peace and stability.
Both the statements did not focus on other contentious issues such as the situation in the South China Sea and trade.
Commendable, says Xinhua
Separately, a commentary by state-run Xinhua news agency on Friday described Mr. Trump’s backing of the one-China policy as “commendable” for it showed that “the new U.S. leader now has a clear picture of the political bedrock of probably the world’s most important bilateral ties.”
The write-up was optimistic that on account of the institutional mechanisms that were already in place, the two countries would be able to resolve their differences in the future. “To better manage their differences, the two sides should stay cool-headed and be candid with each other. There is no better way than dialogue to achieve that end. And fortunately the two countries do not have to reinvent the wheel as there are abundant channels of communication between them.”
The commentary underscored that when former U.S. President Richard Nixon made a historic trip to China in February 1972, “he had proved that there was no unbridgeable gap for the sake of common interests.”
“Forty-five years later, the task is far less arduous as the bridge is already there and what is needed is political will to meet each other halfway.”
