Obama says China would not take change in US policy on Taiwan lightly
US President Barack Obama said on Friday it was fine for President-elect Donald Trump to review Washington's "one-China" policy toward Taiwan, but he cautioned that a shift could lead to significant consequences in the US relationship with Beijing. China considers Taiwan a wayward province, to be taken back by force if necessary.
"For China, the issue of Taiwan is as important as anything on their docket," Obama told a news conference. "The idea of one China is at the heart of their conception as a nation and so if you are going to upend this understanding, you have to have thought through what ... the consequences are."
China lodged a diplomatic protest earlier this month after Trump, a Republican, spoke by phone with President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan. The 10-minute telephone call was the first of its kind by a US president-elect or president since President Jimmy Carter switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979, acknowledging Taiwan as part of "one China."
