By accident or design, Trump signals tougher China policy

[inanna]

Source: Associated Press

Dec. 5, 2016 4:58 PM ET

....

On Monday, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said progress with the Chinese could be "undermined" by a flare-up over the sovereignty of Taiwan, the self-governing island the U.S. broke diplomatic ties with in 1979. That split was part of an agreement with China, which claims the island as its own territory, although the U.S. continues to sell Taiwan billions in military equipment and has other economic ties.

<snip>

"It's unclear exactly what the strategic effort is," Earnest said. "I'll leave that to them to explain."

<snip>

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said Monday that China would have "no comment on what motivated the Trump team" to make the tweets, and he said he believed both sides would continue to support a "sound and a stable bilateral relationship."

But a commentary on the state-run Xinhua news agency issued a veiled warning.

"Succeeding a mostly upward U.S.-China relationship, Trump also needs to resist the light-headed calls for provocative and damaging moves on China by some hawkish political elites," said the commentary by Luo Jun. "The outdated zero-sum mindset is poisonous for Washington's foreign relations. It would be a mistake to think that Washington could gain from undercutting Beijing's core interests."



Read more: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2016-12-05-US--Trump-China/id-fe1f847fbba140d4bc632b4cf98907ce

[CincyDem]

1. Translation...

"It would be a mistake to think that Washington could gain from undercutting Beijing's core interests."

I think if you say that real fast, it's Chinese for "Don't fuck with us, Donny".

[William Seger]

2. Regardless of how long DJT thought about it, it was no accident

It was a deliberate insult to "signal" his disrespect, and they know that. ETA: They also know he's a racist and a liar, and that he has bragged about how he's gonna get the best of them in negotiations.

[bucolic_frolic]

3. Is Trump part of the collective unconscious?

This is dog-eat-dog international relations - rugged individualism,
Ayn Rand libertarianism, survival-of-the-fittest, social Darwinism -
the stuff of which Robber Barons/Vulture Capitalists are made.

From what I've read, Donald J. Trump has not had anyone push back
against him his entire life. International relations will provide that;
sovereign nation states will act in their own self-interest. Tweeting
and screaming threats to negotiate are not relevant.

We are in for some big problems. I expect war by April.

[zonkers]

4. I say let Ivanka handle it. Seems to be the go to move.

[MissKat]

5. maybe there's a reason Trump is surrounding himself with military

Am I the only one thinking that if Trump can bump up the China situation to the point where guns are drawn...then he can do whatever he wants here at home.

Get rid of that pesky first amendment
put in his judges
pile up the cash

and we'll be too busy looking elsewhere.

He's up to something.

And I don't think it's going to end well.

[Locrian]

6. he's probably been taking lessons from Putin

he'll turn the US into a full blown russian type oligarchy