Trump Has Returned to One China Policy, Why Can’t Tsai Ying-wen Return to Consensus of 1992?

 Trump Has Returned to One China Policy, Why Can’t Tsai Ying-wen Return to Consensus of 1992?

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)

February 12, 2017

 Translation of an Except

Trump has finally made a call to Xi Jinping, saying he “honors the one China policy.” Some Western media say Trump blinked first; some say Trump bowed his head down. However, the Trump-Xi hotline, at a minimum, has the following results: Trump has defused the explosive that could have ignited the trilateral relationship among the US, Taiwan and China.

The remarks made by Trump last year that he might not follow the "one China policy" was in fact aimed at exchanging for US interests from China on such issues as trade and nuclear North Korea. Now, whether the phasing “honoring the one China policy” in the White House statement was because Trump made an adjustment after having listened to his advisers, or was a posture of camouflage after he had reaped the spoils of war, in either case, in fact, we should not feel elated too prematurely.

Nevertheless, from Trump’s arrogance and ultra-egotism as exhibited from the Trump-Tsai phone call, to tempered modesty from the “Trump-Xi hotline,” Tsai should be able to more deeply appreciate the following: trying to enrage an elephant would probably result in being trampled by the elephant. Very apparently, the "1992 Consensus" should still be a political program sought jointly by Xi Jinping, Trump and Tsai Ying-wen.

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