US president-elect Donald Trump complained about Chinese economic and military policy on Twitter on Sunday, showing no signs of a conciliatory approach after a phone conversation with Taiwan's president raised hackles in Beijing. Trump’s unusual call with Taiwan President Tsai Ingwen on Friday prompted a diplomatic protest with the United States on Saturday, although vice president-elect Mike Pence downplayed its significance, saying it was a “courtesy” call, not intended to show a shift in US policy on China. Trump, who vowed during his campaign he would label China a currency manipulator, continued some of his hardline rhetoric on Sunday.

Trump slams Chinese construction in South China Sea. (2016, December 6). The Philippine Star, p. 8.