The reverberations of Donald Trump’s presidency have begun before he has even assumed his position in the Oval Office. Trump recently reached out to the president of Taiwan, in a shocking move which flew in the face of nearly 4 decades of American foreign policy of keeping the nation and its leader at arm’s reach.

The reason why Trump decided to reach out to Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, were not immediately known or understood by political analysts. Trump said on Twitter that Ing-wen had reached out to him when he Tweeted, “The President of Taiwan CALLED ME today to wish me congratulations on winning the Presidency. Thank you!” However, it is incredibly unlikely for that to have taken place considering the protocols between the United States and Taiwan as an American president or president-elect hasn’t spoken to a directly to a leader of Taiwan since at least 1979.

There may be serious fallout with China due to Trump’s action, as the Chinese government views Taiwan as nothing more than a province which has broken away from their nation and they regularly treat the tiny nation with hostility and contempt.

It was widely reported that before Trump made the call to Ing-wen, a representative from Trump’s business visited Taiwan to explore the possibility of building a new hotel. Amanda Miller, Trump’s corporate spokeswoman, said there were “no plans for expansion into Taiwan.” She went on to elaborate that no “authorized visits” had taken place to influence any of Trump’s projects which they say do not exist. There is evidence to show Miller was lying because one of Trump’s sales managers whose purpose is to oversee Trump’s hotel interests in Asia, Anne-Marie Donoghue, did visit Taiwan. We know this because Donoghue posted pictures of her visit on Facebook and commented to a friend she was there for a “work trip.” View the exchange below:

Curiously and coincidentally Ms. Donoghue has disappeared from social media and is unable to reached for comment. Imagine that.

These actions are part and parcel of behavior Trump has already shown he is willing to make after he called and had strings pulled by Argentina’s president to fast track a hotel he had been building which had remained stagnant for years under the nation’s various regulations.

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The other meat between the bread in this situation is not knowing if Trump understood the ramifications of picking up the phone and making what was reported to be a simple and unscripted telephone call. There are three scenarios to consider. Either Trump was unaware of how the call would play with the Chinese government, proving he is inept at foreign policy and woefully unprepared to handle the nuances of being the most powerful and influential man in the world. Trump may have been put into motion by an operative working under the flag of a foreign nation looking to disrupt relations between the United States and China and that individual manipulated Trump into making the telephone call, knowing Trump would be too ignorant to understand the ramifications. If that is what happened it proves how dangerous Trump is, not only for his brash behavior, but because it shows he is easily twisted into making decisions which will have an impact for decades to come. Lastly, Trump may have been fully aware of the entire situation and decided to make the telephone call not to be friendly, and not to extend good will, but only to show the Chinese government that he will be standing against their wishes and thumbing his nose at their policies at every opportunity he has no matter how petty or insignificant.

The reality where the American people find themselves is none of these options — and it was surely one of them — mean good things for them. Their future president is either ignorant, easily manipulated, or reckless. That’s a real fine choice when considering this man has not yet taken office and will be in power for at least four years unless he is impeached.