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China Says it Will Cooperate with Trump but Warns on Taiwan

by Associated Press

   BEIJING --

   China's foreign minister on Thursday warned that ties with the U.S.
   will likely see new complications and that the only way to maintain a
   stable relationship is by respecting each other's "core interests.''
   Foreign Minister Wang Yi's remarks appeared to underscore that China's
   position on Taiwan is nonnegotiable, weeks after President-elect Donald
   Trump suggested that he could re-evaluate U.S. policy on the status of
   Taiwan.
   Wang told the Communist Party mouthpiece, the People's Daily, he will
   strive to boost cooperation with the U.S. but foresaw "new, complicated
   and uncertain factors affecting bilateral relations'' under the Trump
   administration.
   China complained after Trump this month questioned a U.S. policy that
   since 1979 has recognized Beijing as China's government and maintains
   only unofficial relations with Taiwan.
   The president-elect's comments on Taiwan, combined with accusations
   that China is manipulating its currency and threats of imposing hefty
   tariffs against Chinese imports, have rattled relations between the
   world's two largest economies.
   Trump's transition team announced Wednesday that Peter Navarro, a
   University of California, Irvine, economist who has accused China of
   effectively waging economic war against the United States, would head a
   trade policy council inside the White House.
   Still, U.S.-China relations are generally trending toward stable
   cooperation and mutual benefit, Wang said. He quoted a Chinese poem --
   previously used by President Xi Jinping as a metaphor for U.S.-China
   ties -- depicting a river that flows inevitably, regardless of
   mountainous obstacles.
   Beijing regards the self-governing island as part of China. It has long
   used the "core interest'' formulation to signal that its position on
   Taiwan will be upheld under any circumstances and any move by Taiwan
   toward formal independence could be met with military force.