Friday's phone call between Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen and US President-elect Donald Trump, which broke nearly four decades of US diplomatic practice, came as a bolt out of the blue. Because of that, it has been given a significance it doesn't deserve by some.

It exposed nothing but the inexperience Trump and his transition team have in dealing with foreign affairs. The action was due to a lack of a proper understanding of the sensitive issues in Sino-US relations and cross-Straits ties, the significance of which Trump and his team will quickly have to recognize and cautiously and properly address after they take over the reins in January.

As the next US president, Trump will shoulder the responsibility to safeguard the interests of his country, which includes maintaining a healthy relationship with China. To do that, he cannot afford to damage the one-China policy, which serves as the political foundation for bilateral ties and has been maintained by every US administration since 1979. Given the strong economic and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries at present, there is no reason for the incoming Trump administration to break away from it.