China warns Trump not to escalate tensions

Posted on January 5, 2017

Donald Trump on Monday tweeted two rash comments. First he tweeted that North Korea will never be able to target the US using indigenously developed long – range ballistic missiles. Forty two minutes later (at 18:42) he accused China for doing a one – sided trade with the US which is in China’s favour. He tweeted that China was looting US’s money by means of the one – sided trade and did not even try to curb North Korea’s nuclear program. China yesterday reacted strongly to Trump’s comment. It warned Trump not to escalate an already tense situation in the Korean peninsula by rashly using social media channels. Read more on Donald Trump

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang told a press briefing on Tuesday that his government’s efforts were ‘widely recognized’. “We hope all sides will avoid remarks and actions to escalate the situation”, Geng Shuang said. The Korean peninsula has become the latest point of conflict between Donald Trump and China because of Trump’s rash tweets. Last month, Donald Trump revealed that he accepted a congratulatory phone call from Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing Wen, after he won the 2016 US presidential elections. Taiwan is a disputed island, which China claims as its own and having soverginity over. Taiwan separated from China in 1949 and became an independent nation, following a civil war in China in the same year. Donald Trump has also frequently used Twitter to accuse China for doing illegal trade practices like currency manipulation that he claims, have forced American jobs overseas. Donald Trump has hired two hard core China – critics, Robert Lighthizer and Peter Navarro, at top posts in his administration.

China is North Korea’s only ally and accounts for 90% of its trade. However a nuclear – armed North Korea is not in China’s interest. Hence, the country has sided with the UN in curbing its nuclear program. This is what US’s Security Agency’s analyst, John Schindler, termed as a big mistake made by Trump. “Keep pissing off Beijing, Don ― as POTUS you’ll have no channel to DPRK next time the Norks do something crazy”, John Schindler wrote in response to Trump’s tweet. In a bid to control Kim’s aggression Beijing signed up to unprecedented U.N. sanctions against North Korea in March, 2016, following Pyongyang’s fourth nuclear test. However, the fifth nuclear test soon followed.

To truly control the North Korean dictator, Kim’s regime, Donald Trump and the US will have to work hard to convince China that curbing the North Korean nuclear missile program; will not hurt its strategic interests in the region. But Donald Trump’s rash tweets on Monday, against North Korea and China, have made an already tough task, impossible! We have to agree with the South Korean, Defense minister, Han Min Goo that Donald Trump has so far, not shown any signs of becoming a revolutionary leader that US citizens hoped he would become. People expected him to act maturely, given his vast experience in business but so far he has done just the opposite! Read more on Startup News