Besieged by allegations of collusion between his presidential campaign associates and Russia, US President Donald Trump—to Beijing’s relief—finds himself with little space to revamp his predecessor’s policy and take on China. For example, to tackle the little bully, North Korea, Trump (like Obama) is seeking the help of the big bully, China. Beijing has already savoured early success in scuttling Trump’s effort to modify America’s long-standing “One China” policy. This, in turn, implies that the US would avoid challenging China on the Taiwan and Tibet issues and in Beijing’s new “core-interest” area—the South China Sea. During his confirmation process, he implicitly criticized Obama’s pussy-footing on China by describing Chinese expansion in the South China Sea as “akin to Russia’s taking Crimea” from Ukraine.

Source: Mint March 27, 2017 18:02 UTC