The Asia Society and the University of California, San Diego, under the co-chairmanship of Orville Schell and Susan Shirk, have published a task force report on “US Policy Toward China: Recommendations for a New Administration.” Roughly two years in the making, the point of this report in light of the timing — published in February 2017 — is to serve as a guide for the Trump administration.

As a new president assessing old policy, Mr. Trump has every right to take a fresh look at One-China, review the U.S.’s stance towards Taiwan, and make changes he sees fit. However, making Taiwan a bargaining chip in any deal with China is not the way to go about it. In fact, it showed a fundamental lack of understanding of the One-China issue on the part of Trump’s transition team.

Trump’s commitment to honor the one-China policy opens the door for discussions on many ways to develop the world’s most important bilateral relationship, and to seek constructive approaches to resolve each other’s major concerns.

Major powers need to work together to push globalization forward in the right direction, with more equitable benefits for people in every country. Any action to gain geopolitical advantage at the expense of another major power will not only bring risks to global security but damage prospects for world economic growth.

Mr. Tillerson betrays a lack of understanding of the U.S. position on the sovereignty claims in the South China Sea. As a matter of policy, the U.S. takes no position – and hasn’t for decades – on these rival claims. If the Secretary of State has the chance to encounter 96-year Li Jingsen on his next visit to Beijing, he might learn that the warships sent by China to recover the islands in 1946 were even provided by the United States.

The US President Donald Trump talked to Chinese President Xi Jinping last week. In the White House press readout, the call was termed as “lengthy” and “cordial”. At Trump’s press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe a day later, he described his conversation with Chinese counterpart on the phone as “very warm”.

Donald Trump’s contentious telephone conversation with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull caused worried reactions in the United States. Washington’s behavior will consist more of abrasive demands rather than requests and quiet diplomacy. Trump’s America First policy means giving highest priority to U.S. interests, not maintaining cordial alliance relations. That is a major change that Washington’s partners in East Asia and Europe will have to face.

Political, pragmatic, and bureaucratic factors have been pushing Trump to pursue more traditional foreign and security policies. His response to the North Korean missile launch, meeting with visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and recognition of the One China principle resembled those of previous presidents. However, Trump still has major differences with Japan and China, while his continuing Obama’s North Korean policy of castigating the regime, working with other countries like China to apply additional sanctions, deploying regional missile defenses, and refusing to engage with Pyongyang until it recommits to ending its nuclear program will likely still not yield appreciable results besides giving North Korea time to perfect its nuclear and missile capabilities.

Donald Trump is a new type of political phenomena that has caught the world off guard. His unpredictability and lack of experience set the stage for a perfect storm of wild-card events that will almost certainly be an early theme during his presidency. While it is China’s decision how it reacts to Trump, tact and precision will be Beijing’s greatest defense in not only ensuring that relations with the U.S. do not deteriorate further, but in safeguarding key aspects of the current international system.

During his time in office, President Trump will relax and possibly abolish sanctions against Russia and mend the relationship between the US and Russia considerably. But the sense that Russia is a major threat and strategic opponent of the US, which needs to be contained, enjoys bipartisan consensus and represents mainstream opinion in US society. Trump must develop relations with Russia slowly and can only go so far; otherwise, his position will become untenable.