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Trump claims credit for $50 billion investment by Japanese firm

<p>Donald Trump might have just seriously pissed off China.</p><p>By accident or by design, Trump seems to be the first U.S. leader to formally communicate with the Taiwanese president in <a href="http://www.vox.com/world/2016/12/2/13824092/trump-phone-call-president-taiwan-china" target="_blank">over 30 years</a>.</p><p><b>SEE MORE: <a href="http://www.newsy.com/videos/trump-may-assemble-wealthiest-cabinet-in-modern-us-history/">Donald Trump May Assemble The Wealthiest Cabinet In Modern US History</a></b></p><p>The president-elect has been fielding phone calls left and right from world leaders around the globe. Trump had a call with <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trump-spoke-with-taiwan-president-tsai-ing-wen-1480718423" target="_blank">Taiwanese president</a> Tsai Ing-wen on Friday.</p><p>The substance of the call isn't all that remarkable — Tsai congratulated Trump on his win, and the two leaders reaffirmed close ties between the two states.</p><p>Here's the problem: The U.S. doesn't officially recognize Taiwan as an independent nation. It's been considered a Chinese territory by the <a href="http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/35855.htm" target="_blank">State Department</a> since 1979.</p><p>That's not to say the U.S. has zero contact with Taiwan — the Obama administration <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2015/12/16/politics/u-s-taiwan-arms-sales/index.html?eref=edition" target="_blank">authorized the sale</a> of almost $2 billion of weapons to Taiwan last year, despite China's objections. The official line on Taiwan is part of a careful diplomatic balancing act for the U.S. to maintain good relations with the two rival countries.</p><p>The call could seriously anger China's government, which usually comes down hard on any attempts to <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-34729538" target="_blank">formally recognize </a>Taiwan as an independent nation.</p><p><b>SEE MORE: <a href="http://www.newsy.com/videos/change-possible-not-guaranteed-with-taiwan-s-first-female-president/">Change Possible, Not Guaranteed With Taiwan's First Female President</a></b></p><p>But relations between the incoming Trump administration and China were probably always going <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahsu/2016/11/23/china-wary-of-president-elect-donald-trump/#334559002210" target="_blank">to be difficult</a>. Trump repeatedly threatened to start a trade war with China on the campaign trail.</p><p>It's also worth noting that Trump currently has some business interests in Taiwan — the mayor of Taiwanese city <a href="http://shanghaiist.com/2016/11/18/trump_taiwan_expand.php" target="_blank">Taoyuan says</a> Trump's company is considering building hotels and resorts in the region.</p><hr><b>Trending stories at <a href="http://www.newsy.com">Newsy.com</a></b><ul class="inline-related-links"><li><a href="http://www.newsy.com/videos/india-s-cash-crisis-explained/">India's Cash Crisis, Explained</a></li><li><a href="http://www.newsy.com/videos/australia-spends-big-to-save-great-barrier-reef/">Australia Is Going To Spend A Lot Of Money On The Great Barrier Reef</a></li><li><a href="http://www.newsy.com/videos/president-hollande-won-t-run-for-a-second-term/">France's President Hollande Won't Run For A Second Term</a></li></ul>
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NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- President-elect Donald Trump is claiming credit for a $50 billion investment in the United States by a Japanese tech conglomerate -- a deal he says wouldn't have happened without him.

The company, Softbank, hasn't given details. But in October, weeks before the election, Softbank and the government of Saudi Arabia agreed to form a $100 billion fund to invest in technology companies around the world.

Trump tweeted the news Tuesday afternoon: "Masa (SoftBank) of Japan has agreed to invest $50 billion in the U.S. toward businesses and 50,000 new jobs," he wrote. "Masa said he would never do this had we (Trump) not won the election!"

At about the same time, the president-elect made a brief appearance with Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son at Trump Tower.

Softbank has huge stakes in wireless, broadband, internet, e-commerce, chipmaking and gadget businesses. It's one of the largest telecommunications companies in Japan, and it was the first Japanese cell phone carrier to sell the iPhone.

Softbank bought 70% of Sprint for $20 billion in 2012. It also has enormous stakes in the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, Yahoo Japan and smartphone chip designer ARM. And it has partnered with Foxconn on its robotics business, most notably making Pepper, the robot pal that learns to love people.

Son, the company's idiosyncratic CEO, put together a 300-year plan for Softbank that calls for it to help permanently break down language barriers and allow people to communicate telepathically.

Softbank wants to build computers that invent new machines and raise the human life expectancy to 200 years.

Stock in Sprint, which is owned by SoftBank, immediately jumped more than 2%.

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