Storm Clouds in the East
Chinese officials earlier played down Mr. Trump’s precedent-breaking phone call with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, which a transition official said had been arranged by Bob Dole, the former Republican senator and presidential nominee
State Control
.. About 30% of all the companies in Japan’s three main equity indexes now count the country’s central bank as one of their top 10 shareholders.
.. Traders say the buying distorts stock values as investors build strategies around government actions rather than company fundamentals.
Trump’s Taiwan phone call was long planned, say people who were involved
The historic communication — the first between leaders of the United States and Taiwan since 1979 — was the product of months of quiet preparations and deliberations among Trump’s advisers about a new strategy for engagement with Taiwan that began even before he became the Republican presidential nominee, according to people involved in or briefed on the talks.
.. Several leading members of Trump’s transition team are considered hawkish on China and friendly toward Taiwan, including incoming chief of staff Reince Priebus.
.. In an article for Foreign Policy magazine titled “Donald Trump’s Peace Through Strength Vision for the Asia-Pacific,” Peter Navarro and Alexander Gray described Taiwan as a “beacon of democracy in Asia” and complained that its treatment by the Obama administration was “egregious.”
The article, flagged to China experts as a significant policy blueprint, described Taiwan as “the most militarily vulnerable U.S. partner anywhere in the world” and called for a comprehensive arms deal to help it defend itself against China.
.. Priebus is reported to have visited Taiwan with a Republican delegation in 2011 and in October 2015, meeting Tsai before she was elected president. Taiwan Foreign Minister David Lee called him a friend of Taiwan
.. Edward J. Feulner, a longtime former president of the Heritage Foundation, has for decades cultivated extensive ties with Taiwan and is serving as an adviser to Trump’s transition team.
.. At the Republican National Convention in July, Trump’s allies inserted a little-noticed phrase into the party’s platform reaffirming support for six key assurances to Taiwan made by President Ronald Reagan in 1982 — a priority for the Taiwan government. Also written into the 2016 platform was tougher language about China than had been in the party’s platform in its previous iteration four years ago.
.. Trump accused China of “raping” the United States by stealing trade secrets, manipulating its currency and subsidizing its industries.
.. “Calls like this may upset the diplomats, but they communicate to Americans that he’s not going to play by the same rules and isn’t just talking differently but will act differently.”
.. the call with Tsai “was deliberate. It was not an accident. Obviously he made a conscious decision to have the call arranged. She called him, but there was an agreement for it.”
.. “It doesn’t make sense that Tsai out of the blue would call Donald Trump. She is not known for taking big leaps into the unknown, and it would be politically embarrassing when it was learned that she called Trump and he would not take her call.”
Donald Trump’s Call With Taiwan Leader Raises Fresh Uncertainty Over U.S.-China Relations
President-elect’s telephone conversation with Tsai Ing-wen breaks diplomatic protocol, angers Beijing and puts North Korea sanctions at risk
Chinese representatives are sure to seek meetings with the Trump transition team to warn that the entire relationship would be at risk if Mr. Trump pursues closer relations with Taipei.
.. A range of global issues requiring cooperation between Beijing and Washington—from management of the global economy to climate change—stand to become more complicated if Friday’s call translates into a policy shift once Mr. Trump takes office. It could also worsen existing tensions, including recent Chinese activities in the South China Sea.
.. The phone call comes only days after China backed U.N. sanctions on North Korea, the result of a monthslong, U.S.-led diplomatic effort to get Beijing on board.
The U.S. has pressed China for years to use its clout as North Korea’s biggest investor, aid donor and trade partner to persuade Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear-weapons program.The Obama administration has conveyed its view to Mr. Trump’s team that North Korea should be the top security priority for the incoming administration, according to people familiar with the conversations.
Passage of the recent sanctions, which effectively target North Korea’s coal exports to China, had indicated Beijing’s willingness to send a message of impatience to its neighbor. Their success depends in large part on how rigorously China enforces the curbs and how well China and the U.S. continue to work together... Beijing had hoped he would follow through on indications during his presidential campaign that he would downgrade U.S. alliances in Asia... In 1996, it fired missiles into waters nearby, prompting the U.S. to send two aircraft carrier groups to the area... Mr. Xi, as is the case with Mr. Trump, is more of a populist than his predecessors and is keen to project an image as a strong leader who is unwilling to compromise, especially on national sovereignty... “One of the things Xi Jinping has made emblematic of his work style is, ‘If you do something to me, I do something to you,’”.. “So he’ll find some way to retaliate.”.. There is also concern in policy-making circles in Beijing and Washington that the phone call reflects the advice of several people advising Mr. Trump who have hawkish views on China and would like to see a closer U.S. relationship with Taiwan.
Trump Spoke With Taiwan President in Break With Decades of U.S. Policy
On Taiwan, unlike trade, China isn’t prepared to bargain. No Chinese leader could be seen backing down on the one issue that could realistically draw the U.S. and China into war; there is no political room to maneuver. Several of Mr. Trump’s close Asia advisers believe successive administrations have sacrificed ties with democratic Taiwan as a way of pandering to Beijing.