Tit for Tat: China and America

-        21-11-2018

-        Mr. Ishaan Tharoor wrote an article entitled "China's road to world leadership looks bumpy" in The Washington Post...dated 20-11-2018...about the APEC meeting...at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit...which was established in 1989 and consists of 21 countries...from East Asian countries and countries bordering the Pacific Ocean...(Pacific)...whose final session was held last Sunday on 18-11- in Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea...and the final session was dominated by a problem between two giants: the United States and China...where verbal battles continued between them...which led, for the first time in the history of this organization, to the failure to issue a joint statement at the end of the summit.!!..and this seems to echo the uproar that occurred at the Group of Seven summit in Quebec Province in Canada held last summer, when the dispute with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau..led President Trump to refuse a joint statement agreed upon by the United States' main allied countries..but this time at the APEC summit.....Washington was not to blame for causing the summit's collapse..!!.

-        Quoting an official from the American delegation..The Wall Street Journal reported that China refused to accept a single proposed sentence in the communiqué: "We agreed to fight protectionism including all unfair trade practices"

-        “We agreed to fight protectionism including all unfair trade practices”
Beijing refused to acknowledge one of Washington’s main alleged grievances, that of "forcing American companies to transfer technology to Chinese counterparts.." – the coercive transfer of American technology to China –. It is believed that the wording was extremely damaging to China..and the paper noted that China would not agree to that language believing that it amounted to singling out Chinese trade practices...(unfair)...and the official said that other APEC members preferred to include the language in the final communiqué..and it appears the disagreement was not confined to China and the United States..but other APEC members lined up..against Beijing...!!
Matters at the summit were so heated that the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, the host country..told reporters: "You all know who the giants in the room are.!!.What can I say!!"..The disputes between the giants dominated the atmosphere of the conference..and the press reported that Chinese officials tried to hold a meeting with Papua New Guinea's foreign minister..who was leading the negotiations in his office on a prior day of the summit's final meeting on Sunday..as noted earlier...and they had to be accompanied by Papua New Guinea police..but one police official reported that they "removed the delegation after an altercation"..however the Chinese deny this report..!!

-        For Chinese President Xi Jinping...the APEC summit was supposed to showcase China's friendlier face to the world...!! Instead he faced U.S. Vice President Pence...who used the forum to criticize China's global development projects and described them as "opaque" and troubling weaker states "with staggering debt"...while the United States launched at that forum a competing new infrastructure initiative supported by Australia, New Zealand and Japan...

-        For China, the weekend was the appropriate time to display China’s soft great-power capabilities in the South Pacific..and an assistant professor at the University of Sydney (John Lee) wrote, "Instead there was public aversion and chastisement of its sharp power..and the Chinese president defended Chinese trade practices and denied that his Belt and Road Initiative and Maritime Silk Road Initiative...contained hidden political, geographic and other malevolent motives ..!!."

-        The confrontation exposed a deep political reality in Asia for many countries where they appeared more wary of an increasingly assertive China!!..than of the United States, the old guarantor of security in the Pacific.!!..Few in East Asia want to live under Chinese domination.!!.And fear of this possibility has reinforced the security architecture in East Asia where America forms bilateral alliances..and deploys American forces...where Professor Minxin Pei of Claremont McKenna College in the United States says that - the U.S. military - enjoys broad support in East Asia so that the United States acts as a strategic ballast....in the region..!!! Although countries in that region prefer not to align with any state...if a strategic conflict occurs between China and the United States ...most of the support would likely tilt to the United States...especially from allies such as Japan, South Korea and Vietnam..in addition to Malaysia and Singapore ..which are likely to support the United States of America..!! Nevertheless, Washington cannot rest on its laurels...!! for America recognizes many governments in Asia's concern about President Trump's inclination toward protectionism..as is the case with China's growing influence on the world stage...Beijing has offered significant achievements to Japan..hoping to repair fences and take advantage of Trump's unpopularity..and the existing disputes between China and the United States affect how the countries of the region interact with one another ..and how they view regional and global institutions!!...There is an apparent thawing in relations between China and Japan as a living example..as noted by Meyridin Qaral of the Lowy Institute, which is an Australian think tank...

-        Concerns about escalating global trade tensions are further encouraging some countries such as South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia and India to actively consider joining renewed trans-Pacific partnerships..and cooperating among themselves and identifying options and alternatives..in light of the accelerating regional maneuvers..where China is “Rising China” and America is retreating..!!.

-        It is worth noting that some observers have pointed out that the Chinese president is not fully prepared..for that game..and the former chief trade negotiator in Beijing criticized his political leadership, saying "China is not thinking enough in confronting Washington"...!! for the Chinese still..do not know how to deal with Trump...and they truly do not know..what they are doing.!!.

-        One of the founding partners of the consultancy Trivium China, based in Beijing, Mr. Terry McAuliffe, told The Washington Post Financial 202 news outlet.."The Chinese have no new ideas...they are just spinning their wheels"..!!