Cornered Trump’s Near Suicidal Move in South China Sea Amid Trade Talks

By: Kayhan Int’l 

At home, while the quixotic US president, Donald Trump, has painted himself into a corner through his rash decision of ‘government shutdown’ in a futile bid to force the Congress to yield to his whimsical demand of funding the building of a wall on the Mexican border, on the international scene he is trying to flex his over-inflated muscles.

It is an exercise in futility, since neither the gangster Mike Pompeo whom he has made Secretary of State nor the bespectacled bozo John Bolton (his National Security Advisor) are capable of either terrifying opponents in Latin America and West Asia or lifting the sagging spirits of clients in those regions.

Thus, with failures looming large on all fronts, Trump made a near suicidal move in desperation on Monday by sending American naval ships to the South China Sea dangerously near to the Xisha Island chain (called Paracel by Beijing’s rivals), in a battle of nerves, even while the US and China are holding vice- ministerial level trade talks in Beijing.

The Chinese, unlike the upstart Americans, have a culture and statecraft dating at least two millennium, and they know how to checkmate their cowboy opponents.

After sending aircraft and warships to warn off the intruding Americans, Beijing launched a strong protest with Washington, pointing out with diplomatic courtesy that one wrong move or an accident might ignite a war – that will definitely drag on to the North American mainland before it reaches mainland China.

Is Trump the Dotard playing with fireworks in a vain effort to pressure the Chinese in the trade talks?
If so, he will be burned before he realizes what is really happening.

Meanwhile, irrespective of the strategic location of South China Sea and its exhaustive marine and hydrocarbon resources which the countries on its rim can peacefully share, provided the meddling Americans stay out, the trade talks in Beijing are having a positive effect on the stock markets of east and southeast Asia, right up to Australia – all of whom are tired of the trade war triggered by Trump.

According to reports, the US team led by Deputy Trade Representative Jeffrey Gerrish has had "positive and constructive discussions” with their Chinese counterparts.

As per the statement released by Lu Kang, the spokesman at the Chinese foreign ministry, Beijing is willing to resolve the trade disputes with Washington on an "equal footing”. 

It is worth noting that the world’s two largest economies slapped a series of punitive tariffs on each other’s goods last year, sparking concerns over a global economic slowdown.

If the US has put tariffs on $250 billion in Chinese goods and has threatened duties on double that value of products, China has responded with tariffs on $110 billion in US goods, targeting politically important industries such as agriculture.

As a result of the current talks which are still underway, stocks in Asia gained on Monday. This is a positive trend that should be allowed to take its course, if not the world economy will suffer.

It remains to be seen whether Trump and his team of tramps (with no adults left among them) are capable of reaching a deal with China, or will push the region and the world to the edge of the precipice by resorting to misadventures like the American naval intrusion in Chinese territorial waters, which might spark a doomsday confrontation in view of the military might of the two sides.

China is taking no chance, as is clear by last week’s signing of an order by President Xi Jinping that warrants its armed forces to prepare for a "comprehensive military struggle”.