A call between US President-elect Donald Trump and Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen was a "ploy by the Taiwan side that simply cannot change... the One China framework", Beijing's Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Hong Kong's Phoenix TV on Saturday.
"I do not think it will change the one-China policy that the US government has insisted on applying over the years," Wang was quoted as saying after Trump broke with decades of cautious US diplomacy to speak with the Taiwanese president.
"The One China principle is the cornerstone of the healthy development of Sino-US relations, and we do not want any interference or disappearance of this political foundation," he added.
It was not immediately clear whether Trump's telephone call with President Tsai Ing-wen marked a deliberate pivot away from Washington's official "One China" stance.
But the call itself will incense Beijing -- the target of much bombastic rhetoric during Trump's election campaign -- and fuel fears that he is improvising an ad hoc foreign policy.
China regards self-ruling Taiwan as part of its own territory awaiting reunification under Beijing's rule, and any US move that would imply support for independence would trigger fury.
During Friday's discussion, Trump and Tsai noted "the close economic, political, and security ties" between Taiwan and the United States, according to the president-elect's office.
"President-elect Trump also congratulated President Tsai on becoming President of Taiwan earlier this year," it said.
It was not immediately clear which side initiated the call, one of several Trump has been making with world leaders in recent days as he prepares for his January 20 inauguration.
'One China'
President Barack Obama's White House said the outgoing US administration had not changed its stance.
"There is no change to our longstanding policy on cross-Strait issues," National Security Council spokeswoman Emily Horne told reporters after news of the call broke.
"We remain firmly committed to our 'One China' policy," she added. "Our fundamental interest is in peaceful and stable cross-Strait relations."
Washington cut formal diplomatic relations with the island in 1979 and recognizes Beijing as the sole government of China -- while keeping friendly non-official ties with Taipei.
But since coming to office this year, Tsai has refused to accept the "One China" concept, prompting Beijing to cut off all official communication with the island's new government.
Tsai's Democratic Progressive Party government (DPP) defeated the Kuomintang (KMT), which had much friendlier ties with Beijing, in a landslide election victory in January.
Even before the Taiwanese outreach, Trump's unorthodox diplomatic outreach has raised eyebrows.
