When Trump Caved to Xi and Threw Taiwan Under the Bus
There was no calm before the storm.
Donald Trump’s surprise electoral win on November 8, 2016, sent shockwaves through the global establishment. And it left everyone—in the United States and in China—to wonder what kind of a leader he would be, and whether his tough campaign rhetoric on China would become the basis for a new U.S. foreign policy.
They would not have long to wait. The first indications about what a Trump presidency would look like in practice, not just in theory, came fast and furious during the ten weeks between his election and his inauguration on January 20, 2017. The signs were not reassuring to anyone in Beijing who might have held out hope that the incoming president would keep the relationship on an even keel. The transition showed a president who was already creating havoc and a team of advisers consumed over fighting for control of the policy and the attention of the boss. Relations between the two capitals were an early casualty of this tumult in Washington, D.C.