I never thought I would see Peter Navarro brought to the White House Trade Council, but it must be making all those China experts I have heard from over the years cringe. They need to.
We live in a dream world with China, making commerce with them while they steal our intellectual property and put it back into competition with us. We should notice that Xi has not been engaged on social media talking about what President-elect Trump has to say, but it didn't take long for Vladimir Putin to catch onto it. Now the press thinks we have a nuclear arms race which is not even close to being true. They are going to have a lot of trouble from this President because he is not a model for what a President is supposed to be. We should add - get over it.
Anyway, Peter Navarro has a couple of books out that blast China for doing exactly what they were doing. Political correctness and diplomatic niceties are probably not going to get by for them in the next few years, and those so-called experts are going to find themselves out in the cold. China is not our friend, and they are not neutral towards us. Either of those would be preferable but that seems not to be what they want. The South China Sea is only one example of how that cooperation has worked out so far.
When I wrote my first book 5 years ago, the Chinese were building up islands and starting to put airfields on them. Then came weapons and soldiers. Now, they seem to be testing the waters for a fight. They always back off, but they never back down. This White House at least recognizes that diplomacy only works when the opponent knows you are prepared to take some real action. That starts with understanding what they are up to and how to stop them. Bringing in military leaders and Peter Navarro are part of that.
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