Days after irking China by entertaining a call by the Taiwanese president, United States President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday said that the US needs to improve its relations with China.
Just days before he made the statement, Trump had also gone on a rampage on Twitter to criticise China for its economic policies and the nation's failure to rein in North Korea. He had said, "Did China ask us if it was OK to devalue their currency (making it hard for our companies to compete), heavily tax our products going into their country (the U.S. doesn't tax them) or to build a massive military complex in the middle of the South China Sea? I don't think so!"
However, the President-elect changed his stance and said that the most important thing for the US to do is to improve its relations with China. While addressing a rally in Iowa, Trump said, "One of the most important relationships we must improve, and we have to improve, is our relationship with China. China is not a market economy, they haven't played by the rules, and I know it's time that they're going to start."
Trump had criticised China throughout his presidential campaign. He had also spoken through phone with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, drawing ire from China. By doing so, he broke a 37-year precedent, which limits direct talks between a US President or President-elect and the leader of Taiwan, an island state off the Chinese coast. China considers Taiwan a renegade province.
No US President has spoken directly to a Taiwanese leader ever since former President Jimmy Carter announced full diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China and ended relations with Taiwan.
Although Trump said that the relations between the countries must improve, he did not falter to further criticise the nation during his Iowa rally.
"You have the massive theft of intellectual property, putting unfair taxes on our companies, not helping with the menace of North Korea like they should, and the at-will and massive devaluation of their currency and product dumping. Other than that, they've been wonderful, right?" Trump said of China.
Referring to his recent pick of Iowa Governor Terry Branstad for the post of US ambassador to China, Trump said that the Iowa leader had always encouraged him to not say anything negative about China in his state.
