Trump should turn the tables on Xi’s Taiwan threats

President Trump’s visit to China last week disappointed his own expectations but met most of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s.   

The deck was already stacked against Trump weeks before the meeting, thanks to the conflict in Iran. China has been an active strategic partner of Iran and materially supported its aggression against America, Israel and other Western-oriented countries in the Middle East. Trump sorely needed Xi’s help persuading Tehran to cooperate in ending the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and curtailing its nuclear weapons program.

The interruption in the flow of oil has caused a steep increase in prices, exacerbating an already inflationary situation riling American voters. Trump’s personal popularity is sinking to an all-time low, and his party’s prospects for the November midterm elections appear bleak.

Under those circumstances, Trump exuded an air of desperation to have a successful meeting with Xi that would resolve or mitigate some of his issues, seeking to regain the momentum from his previous brilliant military actions — the operation that captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, and the October strike that severely set back Iran’s nuclear program. Instead, Xi took maximum advantage of Trump’s political vulnerability and used their meeting both to flatter him and to bully him into concessions on Xi’s paramount issue: the fate of Taiwan. 

Xi launched his information campaign long before the meeting, making painfully clear that at the top of his agenda is Taiwan and America’s support for its de facto independence. He put the onus on Washington to avoid a confrontation over Taiwan by making permanent the pause in U.S. arms sales that Trump directed to avoid antagonizing Xi and jeopardizing a productive meeting. This worked only to Beijing’s advantage, allowing Xi to set the tone and the agenda.  

“The Taiwan question is the most important issue in China-U.S.........

© The Hill