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Trump’s latest foray into East Asian affairs came when he was asked by Fox News about the planning for Dec. 2 call. He said he learned about the call “an hour or two” before it took place, but understood the stakes.

I fully understand the One-China policy, but I don’t know why we have to be bound by a ‘One China’ policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade.

“I fully understand the One-China policy, but I don’t know why we have to be bound by a ‘One China’ policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade,” he said.

“I mean, look,” he continued, “we’re being hurt very badly by China with devaluation; with taxing us heavy at the borders when we don’t tax them; with building a massive fortress in the middle of the South China Sea, which they shouldn’t be doing; and, frankly, with not helping us at all with North Korea.”

“I don’t want China dictating to me,” he said.

Since winning the U.S. presidential race, Trump’s public comments and tweets on East Asian politics have put the region on edge and thrown the future of U.S-China and U.S.-Taiwan relations into question.

When Trump took a call from Tsai Ing-Wen, he broke with decades of diplomatic practice – indeed, it was first such call since President Jimmy Carter switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979. The move was roundly rejected by China, which launched an official complaint in Washington.

A Monday editorial in the the Global Times, a newspaper known for its strident nationalism, suggested Trump ought to read some books on U.S.-China ties. It also warned that if the U.S. abandoned the One China policy, Beijing would have no reason to “put peace above using force to take back Taiwan.”