China-US Geopolitics: News & Discussions

[ahojunk]

China, U.S. agree to work for greater development of relations
2017-02-18 08:29 | Xinhua | Editor: Wang Fan

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his U.S. counterpart Rex Tillerson agreed Friday that the two countries should work together for greater development of bilateral relations during the term of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Wang and Tillerson met on the sidelines of the foreign ministers meeting of the Group of Twenty (G20) to exchange views on bilateral ties and issues of mutual concerns. The meeting is the first of its kind since Tillerson assumed office.

Wang said the recent telephone conversation between Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Trump had been of great significance.

During the conversation, Wang said the U.S. side had made it clear that it would continue to honor the one-China policy and the two leaders agreed that China and the United States could be great partners and should promote greater development of their bilateral relationship from a new starting point.

This key consensus has safeguarded the political basis of Sino-U.S. relations, charted the course of the relationship in the new era, and created the necessary pre-conditions for the two nations to engage in strategic cooperation on bilateral, regional, and global issues, Wang noted.

Wang said that China and the United States, both shouldering the responsibilities of securing world stability and enhancing global prosperity, had more common interests than disputes.

China is ready to work with the U.S. side to implement the consensus reached between President Xi and President Trump, and move bilateral relationship forward in the direction that features no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation, Wang said.

He said the two sides should increase communication, enhance trust, handle differences properly, and deepen cooperation in a bid to ensure greater development of bilateral relations during Trump's presidency, bring tangible interests to the two countries' peoples, and make more contributions to world peace and prosperity.

For his part, Tillerson reiterated the U.S. stance to abide by the one-China policy, which carries specific significance, not only to the bilateral relationship, but also to regional stability and development.

The U.S. secretary of state said the U.S. side looked forward to working with China to conduct high-level exchanges, facilitate understanding, and maintain, improve and consolidate mutual dialogue and cooperation mechanisms in all fields.

Tillerson also expressed the U.S. side's hope for strengthened cooperation with China in areas such as economy, finance and security and pushing for greater development of bilateral ties.

Wang and Tillerson also exchanged views over the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula.


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Looks like a friendly meeting between Wang and Tillerson.
Good for rest of the world.
.

 

[phancong]

Best way to narrow trade deficit with China is to find ways to export more US products to serve 1.3 billion Chinese and not by trade war with China that is a lose-lose scenario for both country.

 

[F-22Raptor]

As China flexes its military muscle in the South China Sea, the U.S. is responding with its own show of force that includes ships, fighter jets and submarines, as well as the test launch of nuclear-capable missiles.

According to internal military reports reviewed by NBC News, almost every week brings another display of U.S. hardware in the waters off China, in a response that has only grown more aggressive since the inauguration of President Trump.

A U.S. Navy carrier battle group centered on the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson is now moving through the South China Sea, the stretch of Pacific bounded by China, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Three attack submarines, the USS Alexandria, USS Chicago and USS Louisville, have deployed in the Western Pacific in the past month, and at least one has entered the South China Sea.

Also in February, the U.S. sent a dozen F-22 Raptor stealth fighters to Tindal AB in northern Australia, the closest Australian military airbase to China, for coalition training and exercises. It's the first deployment of that many F-22s in the Pacific.

And if that didn't get the attention of the Chinese government, the U.S. just tested four Trident II submarine-launched ballistic missiles during a nuclear war exercise, sending the simulated weapons 4,200 miles from the coast of California into the mid-Pacific. It's the first time in three years the U.S. has conducted tests in the Pacific, and the first four-missile salvo since the end of the Cold War.

The U.S. effort is deliberately broad and overt, according to Pentagon officials, and is meant to be obvious to the Chinese government.

Mark Lippert, the former U.S. ambassador to South Korea and deputy national security advisor during the Obama administration, said America is trying to send a message about freedom of navigation, "free and open commerce and [the] rule of law."

"You have to remember what is stake here is principles," Lippert told NBC in an interview. "Adhering to those principles has led to the unprecedented economic and democratic growth in the region. The Chinese are challenging our freedom of navigation."

In the last decade, China has converted dozens of tiny islands and coral outcroppings - many claimed by other countries — into forward military bases, adding airfields, piers and other facilities. The new bases range from the Paracel Islands in the northern part of the sea, claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam, to the Spratlys in the south near the Philippines and Malaysia. The construction, sometimes on reclaimed land, has extended China's defensive perimeter hundreds of miles from the mainland.

In January, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said during his confirmation hearings that the U.S. would block China's access to the disputed islands, and send a "clear signal" that "island-building stops."

Lu Kang, a senior official with the Chinese foreign ministry, told Richard Engel of NBC News that the islands were Chinese territory and China was free to do what it wanted.

Lippert says the Pentagon's recent actions are meant to checkmate any attempt by the Chinese to exploit any turmoil from the U.S. presidential transition, particularly one as dramatic as that from Obama to Trump.

"During a transition," he explained, "the Chinese and United States will test each other, feeling around a bit. Is the Obama policy, which has been fairly aggressive on protecting these principles, going to continue, or is there going to be change?

"What this says is that, for now, nothing has changed."

The recent operations are just the tip of the spear. An NBC News analysis of military movements in the region notes other major operations and basing decisions, including:

-- A new, continual bomber presence at Andersen AFB in Guam, after two decades of absence. Last fall, in fact, the U.S. deployed all three of its strategic bombers - the B-52, B-1 and B-2 - at Andersen. It was the first time all three were deployed to the Pacific.

-- Other transits of the South China Sea by U.S. warships and submarines, culminating with this winter's Vinson transit;

-- The build-up of modernized ballistic missile defense systems in South Korea and Japan as well as increased integration with the militaries of Japan and South Korea.

-- Increased port calls in Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines and Brunei, all countries that have challenged Chinese sovereignty over the islands and outcroppings in the region. The U.S. military presence in the Philippines is now bigger than it's been in 25 years.

-- An almost continual air and naval presence in Singapore, increasingly a major U.S. ally. The littoral combat ship USS Coronado has spent all of 2017 in and out of Singapore. It's the only forward-deployed ship of this new, futuristic class.

-- Deployment of the new F-35B Lightning II fifth-generation fighters at Iwakuni AB on the Japanese island of Okinawa. It's the first permanent deployment of the aircraft overseas.

While some of the operations are primarily prompted by North Korea's nuclear saber-rattling, all of them are meant to be noticed by Chinese authorities. A senior Navy officer told NBC News that the Trump administration had inherited the Obama "pivot" to Asia. "This is a perfect example of how routine can stay routine or be a flash point for greater tension," the officer said.

On Tuesday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry acknowledged the USS Vinson's patrol.

"China always respects the freedom of navigation and overflight of all countries in the South China Sea in accordance with international law," said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang.

"But we oppose those who threaten and harm the sovereignty and security of coastal countries under the pretext of freedom of navigation and overflight."

The Chinese, of course, have not been inactive. On February 10, U.S. and Chinese military planes had what the Pentagon describes as "an unsafe close encounter" near Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. A war of words ensued.

There have also been joint Chinese-Russian naval exercises in recent months. On Tuesday, Reuters reported that the Peoples Liberation Army has nearly finished building two dozen structures on three atolls in the Spratly Islands that U.S. military analysts believe could house surface-to-air missiles, a dramatic uptick in capability.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/us-flexes-its-military-muscle-china-n724911

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

And yet China's island building and militarization of the SCS continues every day. Thanks for the new territory I guess?

 

[F-22Raptor]

And yet China's island building and militarization of the SCS continues every day. Thanks for the new territory I guess?

Go ahead and build your islands. The US cares more about freedom of navigation, and denying China the capability to control their nearby sea's. An with these deployments, the US is doing just that.

 

[TaiShang]

US flexes muscle.

China becomes Germany's top trade partner.

SCS islands grow bigger.

I think we are fine with this arrangement. After all, it is not our taxpayers' money that the US military is burning.

 

[rott]

Go ahead and build your islands. The US cares more about freedom of navigation, and denying China the capability to control their nearby sea's. An with these deployments, the US is doing just that.

That's pure BS. Freedom of Navigation was never an issue. You know it, I know it, everyone knows it.

 

[F-22Raptor]

That's pure BS. Freedom of Navigation was never an issue. You know it, I know it, everyone knows it.

It's absolutely an issue. It's why China intends to deploy anti-air/ship missiles to those islands. China wants the ability to dictate what flies and sails through the SCS. An with these deployments, the US is denying China the capability to do that. An why are people surprised? The US has been doing this for decades.

 

[salarsikander]

Go ahead and build your islands. The US cares more about freedom of navigation, and denying China the capability to control their nearby sea's. An with these deployments, the US is doing just that.

Just like US freed Iraq of non existent WMDs

 

[samsara]

I wanna see how long and how intensive the US can maintain its "routine" patrol in the South China Sea by its CSG because the operating bills are not cheap, it's something that vaporizes into the thin air when such operation is not able to deter China from doing what it wanna do in those islands. So while China is getting something real in developing those islands the US will be simply burning out its resources...

Between the two largest giants they can't really risk for any direct military clash for the subsequent consequences may/will be unimaginably devastating, not only affecting the two heavily nuke armed nations but also the rest of the world!

Therefore as the USA has its usual chest-pumping showdown around the South China Sea, China --just like the sane and self-refraining Russia in Baltic Sea and Black Sea-- [regardless the words & headlines exchanges between the two] will just tolerate the high profile presence yet at the same time carries on its own business in developing those islands in the SCS.

So let's monitor together how long the US CSG patrol may sustain its cash burning there... who will have the longer endurance eventually

 

[maximuswarrior]

It's absolutely an issue. It's why China intends to deploy anti-air/ship missiles to those islands. China wants the ability to dictate what flies and sails through the SCS. An with these deployments, the US is denying China the capability to do that. An why are people surprised? The US has been doing this for decades.

Bro, concentrate on fake news CNN. China is beyond US scope.

 

[nature is]

Another brainless "flexing of muscles" article. Fanboy will always be a fanboy

 

[TaiShang]

Bro, concentrate on fake news CNN. China is beyond US scope.

So fake that now Trump does not even allow them to join White House briefings - along with a bunch of others.

On a side note, if the US regime does not allow CNN and the likes to participate White House press briefings, I guess China has every right to kick them out of the country.

News outlets excluded from White House press secretary's gaggle

Another brainless "flexing of muscles" article. Fanboy will always be a fanboy

I wonder what is really "flexing" here. There is really no flexing, but only showing-off behind the glass with no real-time on the ground impact.

The US uses the existing capacity. China, on the other hand, build up extra capability in the SCS. So, this arrangement is not really innovative for the US especially in the medium to long run. But, what to expect from a polity that has been going down in intellectual and strategic quality for a long time.

 

[maximuswarrior]

So fake that now Trump does not even allow them to join White House briefings - along with a bunch of others.

On a side note, if the US regime does not allow CNN and the likes to participate White House press briefings, I guess China has every right to kick them out of the country.

News outlets excluded from White House press secretary's gaggle

Goes to show which direction the US is heading. Agree 100%.

This is just another feel good article. The truth is that the US is preoccupied with Trump and his antics. The US is divided and it is struggling to make sense of Trumpland. World issues aren't on US agenda.

 

[rott]

Bro, concentrate on fake news CNN. China is beyond US scope.

Lol....

It's absolutely an issue. It's why China intends to deploy anti-air/ship missiles to those islands. China wants the ability to dictate what flies and sails through the SCS. An with these deployments, the US is denying China the capability to do that. An why are people surprised? The US has been doing this for decades.

The more you post the more BS you spew.