Sen. Bob Corker, a contender for the secretary of state post in the Trump administration, was circumspect on whether President-elect Trump’s congratulatory phone call with the president of Taiwan was appropriate it or not.
Corker, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the Trump transition team has a lot going on, “people coming in and out” and appeared to suggest that Trump decided to take the call on the fly without considering the diplomatic implications it would have on the United States’ one-China policy.
“Believe me, there’s a lot going on,” Corker said of the Trump transition team offices, noting that Trump’s assistant is getting a lot of calls from foreign leaders.
“I think maybe more has been read into that than is really there,” he said, in an apparent reference to reports that the phone call was planned and meant as a direct affront to China. Corker suggested that the established U.S. policy in dealing with China is important but the Trump policy is “still evolving.”
“It’s a very different, free-flowing environment,” Corker said. “I think in some ways he’s going to operate a pretty free-flowing White House … there’s just so much going on and I can understand” how he ended up taking the call.
Asked directly, if he considered Trump’s decision to take the phone call as a “stumble,” Corker demurred.
“It was a call he received and he talked to the person, and I’m going to go to lunch,” he said with a smile.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who has been far more critical of Trump on other issues, expressed wholehearted support for Trump’s decision to take the call from the president of Taiwan and for tweeting about his rationale about it afterward, even if it antagonized China.
McCain, who chairs the Armed Services Committee, said he “absolutely” supports Trump’s decision to take the call.
“The Chinese government has been riding roughshod over us on every normal practice that we expect from a mature nation … not to mention other encroachments like violations of international water agreements,” McCain said. “So hell yes, I think we should talk to the president of Taiwan.”
McCain said he loved that Trump then tweeted about China’s currency manipulation after the phone call caused a media firestorm Friday night.
“I love it, I love it,” McCain said. “Taiwan is independent.”
