Trump dials down tension with China with phone call to Xi recognizing One-China Policy

Washington: US President Donald Trump assured Beijing on Thursday that he would honor the “One-China” policy followed by Washington since the 1970s, dialing down a major source of tension with a growing American adversary.

Amid increasing concern in sections of the U.S commentariat that the new President had pro-actively antagonized Beijing during his campaign, the White House announced that following up his letter to President Xi on Wednesday,

Trump

phoned him and ''discussed numerous topics, and President Trump agreed, at the request of President Xi, to honor our One China policy.''

The White House statement seemed to suggest that China extracted public affirmation of the One-China policy from Trump after the U.S President had upset China by talking up a congratulatory phone call he took from the President of Taiwan (which China regards as a breakaway province) soon after his election victory, and suggested that he intended to use the One-China policy as a bargaining chip to extract concessions from Beijing.

The Chinese side confirmed the development, saying Trump had ''stressed that he fully understood the great importance for the U.S. government to respect the One China policy.''

China had reportedly declined to entertain a phone call from Trump unless he publicly affirmed the One-China policy, which came into existence in 1972 after Nixon’s outreach to Beijing, and was formally adopted in 1979 when United States switched its diplomatic recognition from the Taiwanese Republic of China (ROC) to the People's Republic of China (PRC).

Although U.S-China ties have turned tetchy lately, at least three U.S Presidents before Trump embraced Beijing first before concluding that while it had to be engaged economically, it could be contained strategically. In contrast, Trump began on a confrontational note, hectoring Beijing on both fronts.

Trump irked Beijing with withering criticism of its trade and monetary practices, at one time advocating stiff tariffs on Chinese imports to U.S and questioning its attempts to dominate the South China Sea.

The US President was reportedly counseled to temper the approach towards Beijing by his Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and his National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, indicating that he is not above taking advice.

It also took a five-year old’s charm to ease some of the tension. Last week, Trump’s granddaughter Arabella and her mother Ivanka (Trump’s daughter) attended a Lunar New Year celebration at the Chinese Embassy in Washington where Arabella sang a song in Mandarin. The video of the song was widely viewed in China much to the Trump White House’s delight.

The easing of tensions with China came hours ahead of the arrival in Washington of the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on a visit that will be closely watched by Beijing, which is wary of the U.S bulking up its perceived adversaries. After talks at the White House, Trump and Abe are expected bond over golf after flying to the U.S President’s resort home in Florida.

In a separate foreign policy exercise on Thursday, Trump also called

Afghanistan

’s President

Ashraf Ghani

and emphasized the ongoing importance of the US-Afghanistan Strategic Partnership and his support for the National Unity Government.

''The leaders discussed opportunities to strengthen the bilateral relationship in areas such as security, counterterrorism cooperation, and economic development. President Trump looks forward to continuing a regular dialogue with President Ghani,'' a White House statement said.

Regional experts have been concerned about the Trump administration’s policy for the region, wondering whether he will continue to extricate U.S troops from the war-ravaged country or heed the call of his generals for more troops. Recent recommendations by a group of regional experts from various Washington think tanks called for the Trump administration to engage more firmly in Afghanistan instead of the wavering commitment of the previous dispensation that has allowed Pakistan to play havoc in the country.