Is Trump playing the Taiwan card against China?

China Flag map. PRC and ROC Taiwan

China will "take off the gloves" and take strong action if U.S. President-elect Donald Trump continues to provoke Beijing over Taiwan once he assumes office, two leading state-run newspapers said on Monday.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal published on Friday, Trump said the "One China" policy was up for negotiation. China's foreign ministry, in response, said "One China" was the foundation of China-U.S. ties and was non-negotiable.

Trump broke with decades of precedent last month by taking a congratulatory telephone call from Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, angering Beijing which sees Taiwan as part of China.

"If Trump is determined to use this gambit in taking office, a period of fierce, damaging interactions will be unavoidable, as Beijing will have no choice but to take off the gloves," the English-language China Daily said.

The Global Times, an influential state-run tabloid, echoed the China Daily, saying Beijing would take "strong countermeasures" against Trump's attempt to "impair" the "One China" principle.

"The Chinese mainland will be prompted to speed up Taiwan reunification and mercilessly combat those who advocate Taiwan's independence," the paper said in an editorial.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the United States was clearly aware of China's position on "One China".

There are reasons to believe that the Trump administration, once sworn in the office this coming friday, 20th January 2017,  will use every card it has to force China to "play by the rules" by not manipulating their currency, a fair trade agreement between two nations, and the escalating tention in South China Sea, in which China is building artificial islands in the cluster within the EEZ (exclusive Economic Zone - 200 nautical miles) of the Philippines. Which the UN Tribunal already ruled in favor of the Philippines.

UN Arbitral Tribunal ruling on Mischief Reef (Panganiban reef)

Mischief reef, also known as Panganiban Reef is a reef in the Spratlys Islands in South China Sea - west of Philippines.  It is approximately 128 nautical miles from the island of Palawan, Philippines.

Here are some pictures that will show how close this one is to to Palawan, and yet China is still claiming it as their own - even the UN ruled in favor of Philippines.

Ruling on the Michief Reef by the UN - in favor of Philippines

Approximate distance of Michief Reef courtesy of Google Earth.

200 Natical Mile line 

In just a span of a little over three years, China has managed to change the landscape of the reef.

From a natural habitat and sanctuary of fish and other creatures of the sea into a military outpost.

The Natural landsape of the reef - 2015 from Google Earth

Military with airstrip - 04/2016 by Google Earth

According th NYTimes report published in October 27, 2015, China (that time) was creating seven new islet in the region

From that report until now, they did manage to create islands from the submerged reefs. 

Now that the US has a strong stance on the matter, A chinese tabloid now says the the US needs to "wage war" to block off South China Sea islands. This is a response to the hearing for confirmation of Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State. Obama administration previously conducted  air and naval patrols to assert the right of free navigation in the South China Sea. This angered Beijing, but seeking to blockade China's man-made islands would be a major step further and a step that Washington has never raised as an option.