White House: Taiwan Is Not A Bargaining Chip
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MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) -- The White House says the U.S. relationship with Taiwan should not be bargaining chip meant to increase leverage with China over trade issues.
Over the weekend, President-elect Donald Trump told "Fox News Sunday" that he wouldn't feel "bound by a one-China policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade."
White House spokesman Josh Earnest says that adhering to a policy of one China has allowed for a close trading partner in Taiwan and a "constructive relationship" with China.
Earnest says efforts to curb global warming and prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon could not have occurred without China's help.
Earnest says progress benefiting the American people and the Chinese is "much more difficult if tensions are heightened around our one-China policy."
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