BEIJING — President Donald Trump has reaffirmed America's long-standing "one China" policy in a phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping, potentially alleviating concerns about a major shift in Washington's relations with Beijing.
The White House and China's state broadcaster CCTV said the two spoke at length by phone on Thursday evening.
The two leaders discussed numerous topics and Trump agreed "at the request of President Xi" to honor the "one China" policy that requires Washington to maintain only unofficial ties with China's rival Taiwan, the White House said.
CCTV reported that Xi "praised" Trump's affirmation and said China was willing to work with the U.S. to enhance ties and bring "more fruitful gains for the benefit of our two peoples and those in every country."
The White House described the call as "extremely cordial" and said the two leaders had invited each other to visit their respective countries and looked forward to further discussions.
Some had questioned why Trump had taken so long to call Xi given that he'd already spoken with more than a dozen world leaders. Chinese observers had also noted that Trump had broken with his predecessors in not extending good wishes to the Chinese people on the occasion of last month's Lunar New Year holiday, prior to the issuing of a belated greeting on Wednesday.
Trump has accused Beijing of unfair trade practices, criticized China's military buildup in the South China Sea and said Beijing is doing too little to pressure North Korea over its nuclear and missile programs.
China claims Taiwan as its own territory and complained after Trump upset decades of diplomatic precedent by talking by phone with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen shortly after winning November's presidential election.
