(Bloomberg) -- U.S. Vice President-elect Mike Pence said President-elect Donald Trump's unprecedented phone call with Taiwan's leader was merely a "courtesy" and, at least for now, shouldn't be interpreted as a new stance toward the island that China views as a rogue province.
"I would just say to our counterparts in China that this was a moment of courtesy," Pence said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press." "We're going to be preparing after January 20th to advance now what will be President Trump's agenda on the world stage and we'll deal with policy at that time."
Trump's call with President Tsai Ing-wen flouted the one-China policy that has kept U.S. presidents from engaging with Taiwan's leaders since 1979 even amid arms sales. China complained to U.S. authorities on Saturday.
Kellyanne Conway, a top aide to Trump's transition who managed his campaign, echoed Pence, saying on "Fox News Sunday" that Trump was "well aware of" the policy when he took the call.
"He's routinely briefed on these matters," she said.
‘Close Ties'
Pence said he wasn't aware of a call to Beijing since Trump spoke to Tsai, nor would he expect one in coming days, labeling media coverage of the call "a little bit of a tempest in a teapot" and comparing it to President Obama's engagement with the leaders of Cuba.
Trump's transition team said in a statement that Taiwan's president congratulated the Republican on his victory and the two “noted the close economic, political and security ties.” The call lasted more than 10 minutes, according to an e-mailed statement from Taiwan's presidential office.
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National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said Friday, “There is no change to our longstanding policy on cross-Strait issues,” adding that the U.S. remained “firmly committed to our ‘one China' policy.”
Taiwan is a sensitive issue between the U.S. and China, who were each other's biggest trading partners last year, exchanging goods and services worth $627 billion. The island of 23.5 million people has been ruled separately since 1949, when Chiang Kai-shek moved the Republic of China government there at end of the Chinese Civil War.
While ties between Beijing and Taipei have improved over the decades, China continues to have about 1,200 missiles aimed across the Taiwan Strait and has asserted its right to invade to prevent any formal split. Tensions have increased since Tsai's landslide election win in January. Her party supports independence and she has refused calls to reaffirm the one-China principle.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ben Brody in Washington at btenerellabr@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael Shepard at mshepard7@bloomberg.net, Alexis Leondis, Bernard Kohn
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