China has expressed "serious concern" about President-elect Donald Trump's comments that the US did not necessarily have to stick to its long-standing position that Taiwan is part of "one China".
Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a regular news briefing that the "one China" policy is the basis for China-US relations and urged the incoming US administration to understand the sensitivity of the Taiwan issue.
"If this basis and foundation is destroyed, then a healthy and stable relationship between China and the US is out of the question," he said.
The United States switched relations from Taipei to Beijing in 1979. China considers Taiwan to be part of China and any reference to a separate Taiwanese government as a grave insult.
But Trump said on Fox News 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."
Trump's telephone call on December 2 with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen was the first known conversation between a US president or president-elect and a leader of Taiwan since diplomatic relations were broken off in 1979.
The call and Trump's subsequent comments risk souring US relations with China, which considers Taiwan a breakaway province. Beijing vigorously opposes any official contacts with the Taipei-based government.
A Chinese foreign policy expert described Trump as diplomatically "immature."
"We need to point out to him how serious the problem is and exert pressure on him," Li Haidong, professor at the China Foreign Affairs University, said in the state-run Global Times.
"Perhaps he doesn't think very deeply about diplomatic issues ... We should make him understand the importance and complexity of Sino-US ties and prevent him from being manipulated by some conservative forces," Li said.
