Ted Cruz defends Donald Trump's call with Taiwan

Former Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz - shown here in a March debate - defended Trump's controversial call with Taiwan. Former Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz - shown here in a March debate - defended Trump's controversial call with Taiwan. Photo: Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images Photo: Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images Image 1 of / 27 Caption Close Ted Cruz defends Donald Trump's call with Taiwan 1 / 27 Back to Gallery

Sen. Ted Cruz took to Twitter this weekend to voice his support for President-elect Donald Trump's controversial call to Taiwan.

The Texas Republican called the conversation an "improvement" over talks with leaders in Iran and Cuba.

"I would much rather have Donald Trump talking to President Tsai than to Cuba's Raul Castro or Iran's Hasan Rouhani," Cruz tweeted Saturday.

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Trump's call with the island's leader, President Tsai Ing-Wen, broke with decades of tradition, a long-standing U.S. policy and sent ripples of concern through the diplomatic community.

Although Taiwan considers itself a sovereign nation, China claims the island as part of its country. Since the U.S. chose to honor a "one China" policy with Beijing in 1979, American presidents have not openly communicated with Taiwanese leaders.

While Democrats in Washington have warned that the move could spark a war, a number of GOP leaders - like Cruz - have come to Trump's defense.

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Last weekend, the junior Texas senator visited ABC's "This Week" to warn U.S. officials against attending former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro's funeral.

"I very much hope that we don't see any U.S. government officials going to Fidel Castro's funeral. I hope we don't see Barack Obama and Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton and Democrats lining up to lionize a murderous tyrant and thug," he told Martha Raddatz.

"If you wouldn't go to Pol Pot's funeral or Stalin's funeral or Mao's funeral because they were murderous communist dictators then you shouldn't be doing what Barack Obama and Justin Trudeau are doing, which is celebrating Fidel Castro, a murderous communist dictator."