U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s controversial phone call with Taiwan’s leader was planned weeks in advance, according to a report from The Washington Post. Sources familiar with the matter said Trump’s advisory team had planned the phone as a provocative stunt to portray Trump as a radical change from previous presidents. In a Twitter tirade against China on Sunday, Trump accused Beijing of currency manipulations and military expansionism, just two days after his phone conversation with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen threatened to ruin China-U.S. relations. “Did China ask us if it was OK to devalue their currency (making it hard for our companies to compete), heavily tax our products going into their country (the US doesn’t tax them) or to build a massive military complex in the middle of the South China Sea?” He added: “I don’t think so!” Trump’s comments echo much of his campaign rhetoric, in which he vilified Chinese leadership and vowed to take the country down a notch, despite China being a major trading partner for the U.S. While Trump has repeatedly lashed out at China, China has mostly responded as if dealing with a small child. In the wake of Trump’s phone chat with Taiwan, China’s foreign minister said Trump had fallen victim to Taiwan’s “shenanigans.”
