US-Sino trade war has turned ugly

[reedak]

1. Trump has been bragging that trade wars are easy to win. In fact, he claimed in his speech at the UN security council, “We are winning at every level.” However, there are signs that the outcome is just the opposite. In addition to impose heavier tariffs on a growing list of Chinese goods, Trump is resorting to every means to achieve his aim.

(a) The billionaire CEO of Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com, Mr Richard Liu, was arrested in the US state of Minnesota on suspicion of criminal sexual conduct and later released. Whether the accusation is true or not, we can't help wondering the coincidence in the timing of charging a founder of a Chinese tech heavyweight during the trade war.

Moreover, such charges are rampant in a country where the head of state is miraculously getting "immune". How laughable! In the hostile atmosphere of the escalating trade war, Chinese government officials, diplomats and businessmen have to safeguard their moral integrity by bringing their wives along whenever they visit the US.

(b) Recently Trump keeps harping on his unsubstantiated shocking claim that China is meddling in the 2018 midterm elections. Perhaps he has woken up to the reality that his tariffs are getting unpopular with Americans but it is too late for him to make a quick U-turn. Everything has gone out of control for him. He has discovered that he is going to lose the trade war!

His unsubstantiated accusation against China's election meddling is nothing more than a diversionary tactic to distract attention from the domestic economic problems caused by his tariffs and sanctions, not to mention the scandals surrounding his administration.

When Trump pulls a rabbit out of his hat, it has to be thoroughly examined to find out whether it is real. Similarly US lawmakers must not sit idly and laugh, taking his unsubstantiated accusation as one of his many silly jokes. Instead, they must go after him for "solid evidence", check his emails and interrogate him and his team just like what they are doing in the investigation of Russian election meddling.

(c) The US has imposed sanctions on the Chinese military over its purchasing of Russian military jets and surface-to-air missiles. China's Equipment Development Department (EDD) and its head, Li Shangfu, are sanctioned for completing "significant transactions" with Russia's state arms exporter, Rosoboronexport.

The EDD and Mr Li have been added to a Blocked Persons List, meaning any assets they hold in the US are frozen and Americans are "generally prohibited" from doing business with them. Furthermore, the EDD is denied export licences and excluded from the American financial system.

Beijing has not joined in the sanctions imposed on Moscow by the US and its Western allies since 2014. Hence it laughable for the US to punish a country that has the right to trade freely with Russia.

More laughable is that the US has been banning arms and high-tech exports to China all these years. It actually can solve its alleged trade deficits with China overnight just by lifting its ban on exports of arms and high-tech goods to that country. However, it stubbornly and foolishly refused to do so. How pathetic!

(d) The Trump administration says it has approved the sale of military aircraft parts worth 330 million dollars to Taiwan. The State Department notified Congress of its decision to sell spare parts for F-16 fighter planes, C-130 transport planes and other aircraft deployed in Taiwan.

As retaliation, China should impose sanctions on the US military over its arms sale to Taiwan and brazen meddling in China's domestic affairs. If Taiwan dares to accept the US arms offer, China should ban its participation in the next APEC meeting.

(e) Panama’s President Juan Carlos Varela asked the US to respect his country’s sovereignty after the US recalled its envoys from El Salvador and the Dominican Republic, as well as its charge d’affaires from Panama, to protest the diplomatic switch from Taiwan to Beijing.

This is brazen meddling in China's domestic affairs and disregard for the sovereignty of the three Latin American states.

(f) A Chinese man, Ji Chaoqun, 27, has been arrested for allegedly spying on US engineers and scientists on behalf of Beijing. He arrived from Beijing in August 2013 on a student visa and studied at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. He later earned a Master's Degree in electrical engineering in 2015.

Perhaps it is high time for China to ban all its nationals from touring the US and its students from studying in low-quality, profit-orientated colleges or universities. In addition, it must warn its businessmen that they are travelling to the US on their own risks without bringing their wives along.

As the Trump administration’s suspicion and hostility towards Chinese nationals in the US grows in tandem with the trade war, there is a danger that Chinese-Americans may suffer the same fate as Japanese-Americans and German-Americans (who were forced to evacuate their homes to barbed-wire-encircled camps) or Italian-Americans (whose movements were forcibly restricted nationwide) during World War II.

P.S. It won't be surprising this list of Trump's desperation actions to win the trade war will get longer and longer day by day.

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/diplomac ... ion-switch

https://www.blacklistednews.com/article ... llion.html

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45647560

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/05/jdcom-c ... -says.html

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/09/20/poli ... index.html

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa- ... SKCN1M623Y