Friday 29th of March 2024

the ambassador...

 

ambassador

President Trump’s choice to be ambassador to China pledged Tuesday to leverage a personal relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping to persuade China that it is risking its own security if it fails to prevent a nuclear crisis with North Korea.

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R) is expected to win confirmation and could be on the job in Beijing by the end of the month. He faced Senate questioning about the Trump administration’s shifting priorities in dealing with a country Trump had accused of “raping” the U.S. economy but now considers a crucial partner in heading offconflict with North Korea.

“It is probably the most pressing issue that we have right now,” Branstad said of the effort to talk North Korea out of nuclear weapons and missile capabilities that threaten the United States and its allies.

“I want to do everything I can to be a go-between between our two countries to help convince the leadership in China that it’s in their interest to work together to stop this dangerous direction that is coming out of North Korea,” Branstad told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Branstad placed the complex and shifting U.S. relationship with China in personal and folksy terms. He said that although he has known Xi for more than 30 years and considers him a friend, he would not hesitate to challenge him on behalf of the United States.

read more:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trumps-pick-for-a...

 

staying clear of the reefs...

WASHINGTON — Six weeks ago, the United States Pacific Command requested permission from senior American officials for a United States warship to sail within 12 nautical miles of Scarborough Shoal, a disputed reef in the South China Sea that is claimed by the Philippines and China.

The Navy had good reason to think the request would be granted. During last year’s campaign, President Trump labeled then-President Barack Obama as weak in defending international waters in the South China Sea, where Beijing has started a sharp military buildup to reclaim land, install runways and haul equipment onto reefs and shoals it claimed as its own. Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, during his confirmation hearing in January, called for China to be denied access to the artificial islands. And foreign policy experts and Asia watchers braced for a return to routine Navy patrols within China’s self-proclaimed territorial waters, something Mr. Obama allowed sparingly.

But instead, the Pacific Command request — and two others by the Navy in February — was turned down by top Pentagon officials before they even made it to Mr. Trump’s desk. More than 100 days into the Trump presidency, no American Navy ship has gone within 12 miles of any of the disputed islands in the South China Sea, Defense officials said.

The decision not to challenge China’s territorial claims shows a remarkable deference toward Beijing from an administration that is increasingly turning toward Chinese President Xi Jinping for help amid the escalating crisis in the Korean Peninsula. It remained unclear on Tuesday whether it was Defense Secretary Jim Mattis; Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; or one of their deputies who turned down the three requests. Defense officials said that the White House was not involved.

read more:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/02/world/asia/navy-south-china-sea.html