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Trump Speaks With Taiwan’s Leader, a Likely Affront to China

I'll admit I had no idea that we had a policy of never talking to Taiwanese leaders, but...

But the potential fallout from the conversation was significant, the administration official said, noting that the Chinese government issued a bitter protest after the United States sold weapons to Taiwan as part of a well-established arms agreement.

Mr. Trump’s call with President Tsai is a far bigger provocation, though the Chinese government did not issue an immediate response. Beijing views Taiwan as a breakaway province and has adamantly opposed the attempts of any country to open official relations with it.
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How exactly does this work? We talk to Taiwanese military officials who talk to government officials to approve purchase of US weapons, and it's alright on a technicality?

If this was a conscious effort at offending China/supporting Taiwan, then it seems to hurt the narrative that Trump is alright with letting China roll over everyone. If it was an unconscious effort and he did it without knowing the potential fallout, then Oh Magoo, you've done it again!
 
If it's an intentional policy shift, he should have waited until he was president.

If it was unintentional, well, maybe he should better inform himself.
 
Given what's happening with Duterte, that's pretty funny.

I loved their tantrum when Obama did his Africa visit. Ohhh the butthurt... lol
 
Jhhnn said:
The Chinese aren't taking the bait. They're spinning away from confrontation-

http://shanghaiist.com/2016/11/18/trump_taiwan_expand.php

They're playing it as Trump just chasing the God Almighty Dollar, not a diplomatic brouhaha.
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I've always bet on the likelihood that the Chinese are rational and restrained. They have lived through some grim history, and they know it.

Even at the height of their post-war revolution, they didn't enter the war in Korea until MacArthur's troops came close to the Yalu River, and it had been a reluctant promise to Grandfather Kim, whom Mao mildly despised.

Trump either succeeded or failed in business with a gambler's inclination to take insane risks. Even as Buffet had discussed Trump's near-billion in losses that netted him carryover loss claims on his taxes, NYT is now investigating the possibility that Trump actually cheated on his taxes, which is another type of risk-taking.

The South China Sea is another issue of regional hegemony. Even Vietnam is on the opposite side of the equation from China on that one. Talk about it later.

But this news about Trump's pre-inauguration contacts is still unsettling.

All he needs to do is make one, big misjudgment and mistake. If you simply want to depend on our military spending as a solution, you could be barking up a very unnecessary and costly tree. Who really knows what could unravel from this?
 
mrjminer said:
Probably not a good idea to permit the Chinese to claim the South China Sea and build artificial land to construct military installations. To continue allowing them to go unchecked is also probably not a good idea. This was a good move by Trump.
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IronWing said:
Let me dig around in my armpit to see if I can locate where I left my concern over pissing off China.
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Internet tough guys hardliners.
 
BonzaiDuck said:
All he needs to do is make one, big misjudgment and mistake. If you simply want to depend on our military spending as a solution, you could be barking up a very unnecessary and costly tree. Who really knows what could unravel from this?
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Well, barring enough faithless electors in the EC, We'll be dependent on Trump's judgement & the judgements of his cabinet. It is what it is.
 
Balt said:
If it's an intentional policy shift, he should have waited until he was president.

If it was unintentional, well, maybe he should better inform himself.
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Yea, the problem is that it sounds like the latter. I don't think he has any idea of the history or policy behind the current situation. Maybe most times that won't blow up in your face but it could eventually, maybe even literally, go that way.

I know many people want to show our collective dicks to gyna but all actions have reactions. There should at least be a clear reason and strategy behind it.
 
At first I was like who cares, let's piss off China a bit for now. See what happens - as long as it's handled well down the stretch.

Then you read about Trump's potential real estate interests in Taiwan. We all know he is a narcissist that cares primarily about his wealth. It's just so evident.

So then one is left to wonder why take this strategy? Hotels? Or for America.

The dude just has so many conflicts of interest it's ridiculous. And his minions like buckshit just really don't give two shits about them either. Sad.
 
Trump has already brought this up on his Twitter but why is there a US policy to not speak to Taiwan's leader when we sell them billions in military equipment?
 
K1052 said:
I know many people want to show our collective dicks to gyna but all actions have reactions. There should at least be a clear reason and strategy behind it.
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Yep. People should consider just how far they want to things to escalate before applauding things like this. China is not likely to accept a truly independent and separate Taiwan, and upsetting the status quo can have consequences.
 
Balt said:
Yep. People should consider just how far they want to things to escalate before applauding things like this. China is not likely to accept a truly independent and separate Taiwan, and upsetting the status quo can have consequences.
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Doesn't matter, they will be taken up in the rapture while the nukes go off with all the liberals of the world dying in a radioactive fireball.
 
JSt0rm said:
Doesn't matter, they will be taken up in the rapture while the nukes go off with all the liberals of the world dying in a radioactive fireball.
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why won't the righties be dying in the same fireball? cause they are really robotic androids simply programmed to be stupid?
 
Balt said:
Yep. People should consider just how far they want to things to escalate before applauding things like this. China is not likely to accept a truly independent and separate Taiwan, and upsetting the status quo can have consequences.
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It's probably a long shot (don't take my word on this), but I imagine that Trump wants to instigate China into respecting him as a world leader so that something like this doesn't happen to him when he's in office:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...-snubbed-by-chinese-in-chaotic-arrival-at-g20
 
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