US-China Relations - 80. page

Xu Changyin, a researcher at the Xinhua News Agency’s Center for World Studies, said that the “adjustment” of U.S. foreign policy after Trump assumed office can be summed up as “addition and subtraction.” “Subtraction” is less responsibility for international obligations and less investment abroad. “Addition” is exporting more U.S. products, especially U.S. arms.

Internally, the “adjustment” that Trump provided can be summed up as “three minuses and one plus,” reducing immigration, reducing administrative expenses, cutting taxes, and increasing the national defense budget.

Xu Changyin said that it is noteworthy that Trump had in fact made some “adjustments” compared to his aggressive slogan, before taking office. For example, politicians and the media in the United States have strongly discouraged his desire to improve relations with Russia. An important goal of his improving relations with Russia was to contain China.

Not long ago, Trump made the first “National Security Strategy Report.” He explicitly listed China as a “strategic rival” of the United States. However, Xu Changyin believed that there is still room for the expansion of Sino-U.S. co-operation, especially in the economic field. Xu Changyin said that Trump, occupied with his “U.S. priority” mentality, is obsessed with the U.S. trade deficit with China. The possibility of a “trade war” has always existed.

Source: Xinhua, December 30, 2017
http://www.xinhuanet.com/world/2017-12/30/c_129779138.htm

Voice of America (VOA) Chinese recently reported that BML Properties sued China Construction America (CCA), the U.S. branch of China’s largest construction company, for fraud in the project of constructing the Baha Mar Resort, located in Nassau, capital of the Bahamas. BML accused CCA of using large-scale deception in order to significantly delay the completion of the US$3.5 billion resort program. BML is seeking damages of US$2.25 billion. BML declared that CCA submitted hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of forged invoices and intentionally created a situation involving a lack of construction workers. CCA also moved equipment and workers to another construction site that BML’s competitor managed. During the construction period, a large number of Chinese government officials visited the United States and the Baha Mar Resort. CCA also billed for their travel and tourist costs, which were largely unrelated to the construction project (such as tickets to the Empire State Building). BML filed for bankruptcy in 2015 due to the major delay in the construction work, and the bankruptcy caused S&P to lower the Bahamas’ sovereign rating. BML also sued CCA in the High Court of Great Britain.

Source: VOA Chinese, December 28. 2017
https://www.voachinese.com/a/us-lawsuit-against-cca-20171227/4182238.html

Xinhua recently published a commentary after the U.S. Senate passed its version of the Trump Tax Cut bill. The commentary started with expressing doubt as to whether the U.S. House and Senate will be able to consolidate their two bills into one in time for Christmas because there are “big gaps on many details.” The commentary suggested that no one should overreact to the Trump Tax Cut since Obama had already started the tax reform before Trump took office and that the U.S. middle class and below could get “angry” about the new Tax Cut that mostly benefits the wealthy. This could mobilize the base of the Democratic Party to vote. So it is questionable how big the long-term impact will really be. However, the commentator expressed the strong belief that the U.S. tax cut could really intensify a wave of “tax cut competition” across the globe, which will worsen the financial situation of many nations. The United States should not be the one to trigger double-taxation and disruption to global supply-chains. Instead, the United States should be the leader of international tax coordination.

Source: Xinhua, December 4, 2017
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2017-12/04/c_1122056783.htm

China Review News (CRN) recently reported that the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Treasury David Malpass commented in a press interview on the status of the US-China Comprehensive Economic Dialogue (CED). Malpass stated that the CED is stalled and it does not appear that there are any plans for a resumption. Since China “has not taken the path towards a market-oriented economy,” there has not been any on-going discussion or communication on potentially restarting a similar dialog. The original idea of having the CED was to focus on the issues between China and the United States in terms of trade and investments. The U.S. had a trade deficit with China at the level of US$274 billion in the first nine months of this year. More and more officials in the Trump administration have doubted the usefulness of having the CED with China, especially when China’s state-owned enterprises are obtaining more controlling power in the Chinese economy. Very recently, the United States started an anti-dumping investigation against China’s aluminum sheet exports to the U.S. This is in addition to the global steel overcapacity debate, as well as the U.S. position against China’s Market Economy Status under the World Trade Organization (WTO) framework.

Source: China Review News, December 1, 2017
http://bj.crntt.com/crn-webapp/touch/detail.jsp?coluid=7&kindid=0&docid=104897868

Well-known Chinese news site Sina published an article that Huanqiu had originally carried. It reported that the 2017 Annual Report that the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission published “resulted in excitement among those who are hostile to China.” The article stated that the annual report came after Trump’s visit to China and has puzzled some mainstream media, politicians, and anti-China organizations. Trump not only didn’t criticize China but also had many positive exchanges with China. The article said that the annual report “painted China as the enemy of the U.S. and a malignant cell in the world. It provided counter-measures and absurd directions for U.S. media, politicians, and anti-China agencies to pursue in their work.” It called the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission headed by Carolyn Bartholomew the home base of “anti-China hostile forces.” It noted that Carolyn Bartholomew, who worked for Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, has helped Pelosi draft many “anti-China” bills.

Source: Sina, November 16, 2017
http://news.sina.com.cn/c/nd/2017-11-16/doc-ifynwxum1766154.shtml

Duowei, a Beijing controlled media based overseas, published an article commenting on President Trump’s Asian trip. Below is an excerpt from the article:

“U.S. President Trump visited South Korea on November 7. During the welcoming ceremony of the Korean President Moon Jae-in at The Blue House Cheongwadae, Trump’s first concern was the issue of arms sales to South Korea, which he believed would help to reduce the trade deficit between the two countries. Two days before Trump was to visit Japan, he also demanded that Japan should purchase a ‘massive’ amount of weapons from the United States, including missiles and fighters. Trump’s demands on Japan and South Korea are ostensibly aimed at responding to the DPRK’s nuclear threat. Actually, all these efforts are aimed at increasing employment in the United States and changing the trade imbalance between the U.S. and Japan and South Korea. This was also evident during the first three stops of his Asian tour. Japan, South Korea, and China are the three targets of the Treasury Department for the manipulation of exchange rates. They are also Donald Trump’s three stakeholders on this trip to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue. “

“It can be said that Trump is very pragmatic to use the threat of the North Korean nuclear crisis to sell arms to U.S. allies. It is also {clear} from this point that Trump did not have any big strategic design for his trip to Asia. Instead, it is an extension of the principle of ‘the U.S. first.’ The White House stressed that Trump’s visit to Asia has three themes: the DPRK nuclear issue, the Indo-China Pacific region, and business trade. However, judging from Trump’s words and deeds during his visit, all three topics are ultimately related to ‘money.’ In other words, let allies give ‘money’ in return for their own safety. “

“All in all, the Trump, who is currently visiting Asia, does not look like a president. He looks more like a businessman who sells arms to the allies. However, as president, everything on his mind relates to how to cut down the foreign trade deficit and give an explanation to his diehard voters in order to ease the domestic pressure of governance.”

Source: Duowei, November 7, 2017
http://news.dwnews.com/global/news/2017-11-07/60022096.html