Trump’s Taiwan, Hong Kong Support Poses Early Test for Biden

  • Taipei considering ways to congratulate Biden after 2016 call
  • Biden faces challenge of establishing his own China policy
A demonstrator in a Trump mask in Hong Kong in 2019. Activists in Hong Kong hope Biden will continue to enforce the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act passed by the Trump administration.Photographer: Chan Long Hei/Bloomberg
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After Donald Trump’s election in late 2016, the then-president-elect took an unprecedented phone call from Taiwan’s leader Tsai Ing-Wen, shattering decades of diplomatic protocol and prompting angry protests from China.

Now, Beijing’s critics are looking for a similar show of support from President-elect Joe Biden, who has promised a tough line against China after a career of advocating engagement. While Tsai has already welcomed Biden’s win on Twitter, Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu told lawmakers Thursday that Taipei was “considering various ways” to congratulate the new president.