Updated | China lodges diplomatic protest after Trump calls Taiwan president

China has lodged a diplomatic protest with the US after its president-elect Donald Trump breached protocol and spoke by phone with Taiwan’s leader.

The 10-minute phone call with Tsai Ing-wen was the first by a US president or president-elect since President Jimmy Carter switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979, acknowledging Taiwan as part of “one China”.

China’s Foreign Ministry said it had lodged “stern representations” with what it called “the relevant US side”, urging careful handling of the Taiwan issue so as to avoid any disturbances in bilateral relations.

“The one China principle is the political basis of the China-US relationship,” it said.

Earlier, China’s foreign minister Wang Yi said that the conversation between Trump and Tsai was “just a petty trick by Taiwan” that would not change US policy towards China.

He noted how quickly Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump had spoken by phone since the latter’s electoral triumph, and that Trump had praised China as a great country. Taiwan was not mentioned in that call, according to an official Chinese transcript”.

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office also described the conversation as a “petty” move by Taiwan that does not change the island’s status as part of China.

Trump tweeted on Friday that Tsai Ing-wen had called him to congratulate him on winning the US election. His transition team said that the two noted “close economic, political and security ties” between the US and Taiwan.

China has hundreds of missiles pointing towards Taiwan, and has threatened to use force if it seeks independence.

President Tsai led the Democratic Progressive Party – which has traditionally veered towards independence from China - to a landslide victory in January’s election.

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it opposed any official interaction or military contact between the US and Taiwan, according to Communist Party mouthpiece the People’s Daily.

Chinese state-run tabloid the Global Times said in an online editorial that if Trump were to overturn the “one China” principle upon assuming office it would create such a crisis with China that he’d hardly have time to do anything else.

“We believe this is not something the shrewd Trump wants to do,” it said.

Trump responded to criticism at the phone call by tweeting: “Interesting how the US sells Taiwan billions of dollars of military equipment but I should not accept a congratulatory call”.