Taiwan Risks China’s Wrath for Unprecedented Call to Trump
- Unusual chat highlights island’s diplomatic isolation
- Beijing expected to ratchet up pressure after ‘little trick’
Trump's Taiwan Call Riles China
This article is for subscribers only.
With her precedent-breaking conversation with Donald Trump, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen is betting that a little recognition from the incoming U.S. leader was worth the risk of backlash from China.
The telephone call Friday, which lasted for a little more than 10 minutes, was the closest a Taiwanese president has come to getting formal U.S. recognition since it established relations with the Communist government in Beijing almost four decades ago. With it, Tsai drew global attention to the democratically run island’s increasing isolation in the shadow of a rising China, which considers Taiwan part of its territory that can be retaken by force.