BEIJING — China said Monday that it had "serious concern" about President-elect Donald Trump's most recent comments about Taiwan, and warned that any changes to how America deals with the self-governing island could damage diplomatic ties between Washington and Beijing. Geng Shuang, a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry, said Monday that Mr. Trump’s comments in a television interview over the weekend raised the possibility that U.S.-China relations would be “badly affected.” Geng said the “one China” policy was the “political foundation” of any Sino-American ties. "We urge the new U.S. leader and government to fully understand the seriousness of the Taiwan issue, and to continue to stick to the one-China policy," Geng said. Since recognizing the People's Republic of China in 1979, the U.S. has adhered to the one-China policy, recognizing Beijing as the capital of China and maintaining only unofficial relations with Taiwan. Beijing was already angered by Trump's Dec. 2 phone call with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, the first time an American president or president-elect has publicly spoken to a Taiwanese leader in nearly four decades. China considers Taiwan to be part of China and any reference to a separate Taiwanese government as a grave insult. Trump followed the call with two tweets accusing China of manipulating its currency, unfairly taxing American imports and provoking tensions in the South China Sea. But Mr. Trump said on “Fox News Sunday” that he doesn’t feel “bound by a one-China policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade.”

In a commentary published hours after Mr. Trump’s remarks to Fox, China’s state-run tabloid the Global Times blasted the president-elect as “naïve,” even “immature” for suggesting he could change the U.S. stance on the one-China policy. He thinks he can put a price on everything”, Global Times said. Hours after the interview aired, China's Communist Party-controlled Global Times published a Chinese-language editorial headlined: "Trump, please listen clearly: 'One China' cannot be traded." Global Times, which is controlled by the Communist Party, also called Trump "as ignorant as a child" when it comes to diplomacy, language far stronger than that used by Chinese officials, the AP reports.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman says these comments raise the possibility that U.S.-China relations could be adversely affected, and that the One-China policy is the political foundation of the ties between the two countries.