3rd US-China clash on South China Sea since Trump takeover

Prospective Secretary of State Rex Tillerson yesterday warned: “The U.S.is going to make sure that we protect our interests there”.

Most notably, stating an intention to “defend global territories” could be read in the region as a sign that the incoming White House is serious about revising the conditions under which it would resort to force in the South China Sea. It stretched from South Korea and Japan in the north, through Okinawa, Taiwan and the Philippines to Singapore. Without the USA it would be possible for the remaining members to consider an application for membership from China.

Under President Barack Obama’s administration, Washington insisted it was neutral on the question of sovereignty over the islets, reefs and shoals.

As Chinese media have pointed out, Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan and Malaysia also control islands in the disputed waters of the South China Sea, yet the United States is not demanding they leave the area. Prime Minister Abe, Tanaka says, has been right to engage Trump early and, he might have added, to swing through Southeast Asia and Australia last week to seek common positions across the region. Peter Navarro, who will lead US trade and industrial policy under Trump, released an entire feature documentary called Death by China which blames the country for domestic economic ills. Significantly, Cambodia just canceled a joint military exercise with the U.S.

A front-page People’s Daily commentary stressed, “The new US government should realize that it’s normal for these two great countries to have problems and disagreements”.

Citing Trump’s calls for the USA to acquire more atomic weapons, the popular paper, known for its inflammatory rhetoric and hawkish views, said that Beijing’s nuclear forces “must be so strong that no country would dare launch a military showdown” with it. Some took Beijing’s financial bait, while others are afraid of their large neighbor. The Ministry of Commerce last week said it’s willing to work with the new United States administration to help promote healthy trade development and economic ties, echoing President Xi Jinping’s speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos that warned against trade wars and protectionism. Because of his positions and governing style, he appears to prefer the suzerainty offered by the Chinese dragon over the American nanny’s meddling.

Beijing will be watching closely amid fears a trade war could break out between the world’s top two economies, U.S. and China, after Donald Trump took office as the 45th president of the United States on Friday.

Mrs May deploys the language of a “golden era” in China-British relations, but Beijing has cooled on a series of high-profile projects since the departure from the government of former chancellor George Osborne, a keen Sinophile.

But Kraska neglects to mention that the U.S.is not a party to UNCLOS. The Republican president has been a vocal opponent of China.

While this sort of talk probably plays well to Trump’s constituency, the new president and his commerce secretary might be picking on the wrong targets.

On trade, the new administration will prefer bilateral arrangements to multilateral ones such as the TPP.

Chinese business executives, at the same time, may use the opportunity to apply for more tax breaks and preferential policies and turn to producing more competitive products.

In the aftermath of the Great Depression, the US Congress slapped tariffs on all countries that shipped goods to America in an effort to shield US workers.