Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee Saturday praised President-elect Donald Trump's "refreshing" call with Taiwan and slammed critics who "kowtow to Communism" in backing China.
"I remember under [President Jimmy] Carter in 1979, when we humiliated Taiwan by watching them have to leave the United Nations in disgrace as we broke diplomatic ties with a free country, in order to placate communists," Huckabee, a 2016 Republican presidential candidate, told Uma Pemmaraju on Fox News.
"I don't understand what it is that we somehow think that we ought to deny people freedom," he added. "We're a freedom-loving country.
"And somehow, kowtow to Communism? I think that's absurd."
Beijing Saturday lodged a formal complaint with the Obama administration over Trump's call on Friday with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen.
The president-elect said that Taiwanese officials called him, while a spokesman for President Tsai's office said late Friday that "of course both sides agreed ahead of time before making contact."
Democrats ripped Trump for breaking nearly 40 years of diplomatic protocol — China has claimed Taiwan and its democratically run government as part of Beijing since 1979 — while Republicans have lauded president-elect's leadership skills.
"I'm proud to see Donald Trump have that conversation," Huckabee told Pemmaraju. "It bodes well for him taking a stand that says we'll talk to whoever we wish to talk to.
"I don't know what the big fuss is about other than it's a real test of whether Donald Trump is going to lead the American people or whether he's going to do what a lot of administrations have done — and that's let the Chinese dictate to an American president what we will and won't do.
"It's refreshing to see a U.S. president say that America will do what it doggone wants to — and deal with it."