It’s been a long while since a phone call, in which nothing of significance was said, rattled international affairs quite this much.
President-elect Donald Trump spoke Friday with Taiwan’s president, in a move that broke with decades of U.S. policy and could put a strain on the relationship between the U.S. and China.The U.S. has not had diplomatic relations with Taiwan since 1979. As part of the agreement establishing official diplomatic relations with China, the U.S. government established a “One China” policy, recognizing the People’s Republic of China as the sole legal government and ceasing all diplomatic recognition of Taiwan.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."