Trump Humors Humorless Xi on Taiwan

Letter to Romans: Lib MSM says China’s Xi “berated” No. 47 over “its” Taiwan & reminded what happened to Thucydides’ Greeks when a “declining” nation waged war vs a “rising” enemy. Fact is Trump & Rubio let Xi twist in the wind like a Nero fiddling as Rome burned.

Buried in the WSJ’s assessment of the meeting between the two heads of state is a revealing op ed appropriately titled, “About That Taiwan ‘Thucydides Trap.’” The editors observed, “Xi Jinping likes the Greek analogy because he thinks China is the rising power & the US in decline. He might think twice about that.” And, while he's doing so, Xi might replay the tape as to how his pushing (yet again) his “Taiwan Red Line” played out (again). As the WSJ points out, “Mr. Trump reportedly said nothing in response to Mr. Xi’s Thucydides play, which we hope is a good sign. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is in Beijing with Mr. Trump, told NBC that ‘They always raise [Taiwan] on their side,’ but ‘we always make clear our position and we move on to other topics.’”

BTW, the rising diplomatic star added it would be a “terrible mistake” if China were to try to take Taiwan by force. Indeed, if Xi’s Thucydides analogy is a valid road map for avoiding a future US-China war, the WSJ suggested he might belatedly realize he quietly had his pants pulled down by Team Trump since any such war remains a one-sided “decision by Mr. Xi – a gamble that the US wouldn’t intervene in a blockade, a military assault or seizure of Taiwan’s outlying islands. Mr. Xi is the only one chipping away at peace with his blockade dress rehearsals, cyber-attacks & much more.” In the meantime, “Taiwan simply wants to continue not living under the boot of the Chinese Communist Party” ala Hong Kong. And Trump remains ready to put his boot up any aggressor’s rear end ploy against it.

Davd Soul