Trump
suggests he may drop Russia sanctions if Moscow 'is helpful'
President-elect
also hints that Beijing will need to show good faith on trade
practices for him to commit to ‘One China’ policy
Martin Farrer
Saturday 14 January
2017 04.05 GMT
Donald Trump has
suggested he might drop sanctions against Russia and that the
communist party rulers in Beijing needed to show good faith on
currency and trade practices before he committed to a “One China”
policy on Taiwan.
In fresh signs that
the US president-elect is prepared to reshape longstanding Washington
foreign policy, he told the Wall Street Journal that he would keep
sanctions against Russia in place “at least for a period of time”.
But he added: “If
you get along and if Russia is really helping us, why would anybody
have sanctions if somebody’s doing some really great things?”
Trump’s policy
towards Russia is the subject of intense interest in Washington amid
a Senate inquiry into allegations that the Kremlin ordered a hacking
operation against the Democratic party to help the billionaire
politician win the November election.
Trump – who has
praised Vladimir Putin for being “very smart” – said he was
willing to meet the Russian president in the months after he moves
into the White House following his January 20 inauguration.
“I understand that
they would like to meet, and that’s absolutely fine with me,” he
said.
Controversy also
surrounds the Trump administrations’s attitude towards China, with
soon-to-be secretary of state Rex Tillerson warning Beijing this week
that China would “not be allowed access” to its artificial
islands in the South China Sea.
Asked if he
supported the “One China” policy on Taiwan that has underpinned
US relations with Beijing for decades, Trump said: “Everything is
under negotiation including ‘One China’,” the Journal reported.
Trump caused offence
in Beijing when he took a congratulatory telephone call from Taiwan’s
president in the wake of his election victory – a breach of the
“One China” protocol under which Washington agreed to withdraw
diplomatic recognition of the island nation as part of a deal to open
up relations with the mainland.
On Taiwan, he told
the Journal: “We sold them $2bn of military equipment last year. We
can sell them $2bn of the latest and greatest military equipment but
we’re not allowed to accept a phone call. First of all it would
have been very rude not to accept the phone call.”
During the election
campaign Trump said he would label China a currency manipulator on
the first day of taking office. The yuan has fallen steadily against
the dollar in recent years, bringing accusations from the US that
Beijing has deliberately forced its currency lower to gain a market
advantage for its exports.
Trump told the
Journal he would stop short of officially branding China a
manipulator but was critical of Beijing’s financial policies and
said: “Certainly they are manipulators”.
“Instead of
saying: ‘We’re devaluating our currency,’ they say, ‘oh, our
currency is dropping’. It’s not dropping. They’re doing it on
purpose.
“Our companies
can’t compete with them now because our currency is strong and it’s
killing us,” Trump said.
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