https://www.yahoo.com/news/beijing-faces-decision-respond-trumps-tweets-050920301.html

BEIJING (AP) - Chinese leaders face a challenge: How to deal with Donald Trump.
Weeks before taking office, the incoming American president is riling Beijing with confrontation and online statements that appear to foreshadow a tougher foreign policy toward China.
China awoke Monday to sharp criticism posted by Trump on Twitter, days after Beijing responded to his telephone conversation with Taiwan's president by accusing the Taiwanese of playing a "small trick" on Trump.
Trump wrote, "Did China ask us if it was OK to devalue their currency (making it hard for our companies to compete), heavily tax our products going into their country (the U.S. doesn't tax them) or to build a massive military complex in the middle of the South China Sea? I don't think so!"
That was apparently prompted by China's response to Trump's talk Friday with Tsai Ing-wen, the first time an American president or president-elect is known to have spoken to a Taiwanese leader since the U.S. broke off formal diplomatic relations in 1979.
So far, China has avoided responding with open hostility. On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said China would have "no comment on what motivated the Trump team" to make the tweets, but said he believed both sides would continue to support a "sound and a stable bilateral relationship."
"For us, for China, we do not comment on his personality," Lu said. "We focus on his policies, especially his policies toward China."
China's reaction to Trump's call with Tsai was relatively low-key given the sensitivity China places on Taiwan.
The U.S. and Taiwan retain strong unofficial ties, and the U.S. sells weapons to the self-governing island. But American leaders have for decades avoided any official recognition in deference to China, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory, to be captured by force if necessary. Trump's reference in another tweet to Tsai as "the President of Taiwan" was sure to inflame China, which considers any reference to Taiwan having a president as a grave insult.
But China only said it would make a "solemn representation" in Washington, and Lu declined to expand on that statement Monday. Instead, China seemed to offer Trump a face-saving way out of an apparent blunder by blaming the Taiwanese. English-language commentaries then appeared in two state-run newspapers known to be used by China's ruling Communist Party leadership to send messages abroad.
"Trump might be looking for some opportunities by making waves," the Global Times said in a Monday editorial headlined, "Talk to Trump, punish Tsai administration."
"However, he has zero diplomatic experience and is unaware of the repercussions of shaking up Sino-U.S. relations," the newspaper said. "It is certain that Trump doesn't want a showdown with China, because it is not his ambition, and neither was it included in his promise to the electorate. He puts out feelers to sound China out and chalk up some petty benefits."
China's response was characteristically coded. But it now faces an incoming president who deals in outspoken tweets, not communiques.
Trump used a platform banned by censors in mainland China to renew several of his criticisms during the U.S. presidential campaign. Some of his arguments aren't true.
Taiwan's official Central News Agency, citing anonymous sources on Saturday, said Edwin Feulner, founder of the Washington-based Heritage Foundation, was a "crucial figure" in setting up communication channels between the sides.
Vice President-elect Mike Pence said Sunday that the phone call shouldn't necessarily be interpreted as a shift in U.S. policy. He shrugged off the attention to the incident as media hype.
"It was a courtesy call," Pence told NBC's "Meet the Press."
Ned Price, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said Trump's conversation does not signal any change to long-standing U.S. policy - although some in Taiwan expressed hopes for strong U.S. support from the incoming administration.
In terms of Trump's criticisms, Chinese imports are taxed at standard U.S. rates, while Washington has recently slapped painful punitive tariffs on Chinese steel, solar panels and other goods.
And while China once kept a tight grip on the value of the yuan, also known as the renminbi, it now allows it to trade within a bandwidth 2 percent above or below a daily target set by the People's Bank of China.

The yuan is currently trading at around a six-year low against the dollar. But economists now conclude that the currency is more or less properly valued in relation to the dollar and other foreign currencies. And with economic growth slowing considerably and more Chinese trying to move money out of the country, the government is now spending massively to hold up the yuan's value rather than depressing it as Trump and other critics accuse it of doing. It has also imposed strict controls on Chinese moving money out of the country.
China has built up its military and constructed man-made islands in the South China Sea, and made sweeping territorial claims over almost the entire critical waterway. Those claims were broadly rejected in June by an international tribunal in The Hague.
Shi Yinhong, a professor of international relations at People's University in Beijing, predicted China would not lash out immediately, but calibrate its response over the next several months after Trump enters the White House.
"Trump's remarks will certainly raise the concerns of Chinese leaders," Shi said. "But at the moment, they will be restrained and watch his moves closely."
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Associated Press writer Christopher Bodeen and news researcher Liu Zheng contributed to this report.

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I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do, because I noticed it always coincides with their own desires

Susan B. Anthony
1896

Impeach Trump

Can you imagine how much free time the advisors have? How can the state department politely tell the president elect that it's what he learns after he knows everything that really matters.

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"One of the reasons why propaganda tries to get you to hate government is because it's the one existing institution in which people can participate to some extent and constrain tyrannical unaccountable power." Noam Chomsky.

- Risking Chinese anger, the president (Bill Clinton)reversed a 16-year policy and will allow Taiwan's president to visit the United States in early ... to accept an invitation from a university -- made it hard to turn down, U.S. officials said.

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Romans 8;18-32 John 3;16-18

You do understand there's a significant difference between letting the guy fly here to speak at a university and the Pre-POTUS talking directly to the ALT-China president on the phone, right?

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Capitalism is based on the ridiculous notion that you can enjoy limitless growth in a closed, finite system.

In biology, such behavior of cells is called "cancer".

No he doesn't understand that comparing that Apple with this orange will not defend trump. Trump is. It even aware of the complexities that dictate a foreign policy decision, much less the ability to act consistently with that stated position.

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"One of the reasons why propaganda tries to get you to hate government is because it's the one existing institution in which people can participate to some extent and constrain tyrannical unaccountable power." Noam Chomsky.

Libtards can't understand the difference between a state sponsored visit and a congradulatory phone call!

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Romans 8;18-32 John 3;16-18

Repuglicans don't realize social media is not an appropriate place for a president to deliver his news to the people.....

and you shouldn't elect a candidate who is scared/unqualified(probs both) to hold a effing press conference!

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I troll 2L.com to be a better person in real life

The asshole's lame victory lap tour probably isn't giving him the woody he is hoping for.




civitas

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"The truth is incontrovertible.
malice may attack it,
ignorance may deride it,
but in the end,
there it is." -Sir Winston Churchill

How do you explain to China that your loose lipped president elect can't be held accoutable for a little post election exuberance? If you say that it's forgivable ignorance from a man who can't be expected to know that other countries actually pay attention to his words and actions, I would respect your honesty. Trump has been conditioned to expect that half of the American people don't listen to his words, they just identify with his bravado and business acumen. Other countries don't understand why he would communicate his opinions through his actions along such a bumbling path and therefore see his call an intentional, calculated behavior designed to create an inference that America is warming to Taiwan and cooling with China.

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"One of the reasons why propaganda tries to get you to hate government is because it's the one existing institution in which people can participate to some extent and constrain tyrannical unaccountable power." Noam Chomsky.

You all do realize its all just pre-game talk and what happens when the teams take the field is what matters.  If his goal is to keep opposition confused and guessing its working.  Very unlike Obama who was, and is an open play book, and quite content on losing.

When the dog is braking load and mean, nobody treads his turf.  I like that.

That's cute. You think he has a goal. You think he wanted to keep Asia guessing. That's funny.

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"One of the reasons why propaganda tries to get you to hate government is because it's the one existing institution in which people can participate to some extent and constrain tyrannical unaccountable power." Noam Chomsky.

that is bs ever heard the term all bark and no bite?

I prefer speak softly and carry a big stick

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I troll 2L.com to be a better person in real life

Everyone knows the loud guy is always the toughest. Right?

But trump wasn't strategizing with China, he just didn't know any better. Looks like the Chinese will ignore it because "he's inexperienced".

Nice. You guys must be proud. You elected PT Barnum.

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Capitalism is based on the ridiculous notion that you can enjoy limitless growth in a closed, finite system.

In biology, such behavior of cells is called "cancer".

It was a calculated move. Hard to believe that a U.S. president can make a smart foreign policy move for a change, isn't it? God knows we haven't seen that in the last 8 years.

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I :heart; Q

so which is it? He was doing a harmless victory lap or he was creating new policy with regard to China without the benefit of the state department and all the people that actually think before they speak.

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"One of the reasons why propaganda tries to get you to hate government is because it's the one existing institution in which people can participate to some extent and constrain tyrannical unaccountable power." Noam Chomsky.

What state sponsored visit?

But nevermind spinning it to us, it's the Chinese who were snubbed. You guys may not realize how seriously these things are taken, particularly in Asian culture.

But the Chinese pretty much know he's a clown, so they will grant him some latitude I think. No harm, not foul. Just pseudo-presidential foot in mouth. But I suppose some of you guys like that sort of thing.

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Capitalism is based on the ridiculous notion that you can enjoy limitless growth in a closed, finite system.

In biology, such behavior of cells is called "cancer".

OMG!!!! China is pissed because Trump talked to Taiwan!! What are we, in fcking high school again? More like middle school.....

This is going to be a fun 4yrs watching you guys make fools of yourselves with these "controversies"....lol. Thats one sure fire way to turn 4yrs into 8, though.

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True about what he said on Twitter, but the future POTUS shouldn't be tweeting that shit, very undiplomatic imo.

These are not high school boys feeling slighted, these world powers that control huge amounts of U.S. debt and are currently devaluing their currency in an under the radar trade war. China is militarizing. We sell military hardware to Taiwan. They are dangerous. If one side believes that the other side has the US in its corner, it affects the entire region in an economic and political way. Stumbling into one side's corner without even realizing the complexities might not be advisable, but then again, not having advisers or using them is Trump's problem.

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"One of the reasons why propaganda tries to get you to hate government is because it's the one existing institution in which people can participate to some extent and constrain tyrannical unaccountable power." Noam Chomsky.