Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to raise the issue of increasingly costly US arms transfers to Taiwan during their bilateral summit at the end of this week, spanning Thursday through Friday. Taiwan of course remains the"core of China's core interests"- as Beijing has in the recent pastcharacterized the issue. While Trump officials have previewed that it will be focused on trade and investment, the White House too is reportedly placing Taiwan and regional geopolitical hot button issues on the agenda.
"I'm going to have that discussion with President Xi," Trump told reporters at the White House, specifically on the question of weapons sales."President Xi would like us not to, and I’ll have that discussion. That's one of the many things I’ll be talking about."
Also there's the looming question of the future of the Iran war and blockaded Strait of Hormuz. Currently there's a stalemated situation and supposed ceasefire which is barely holding. By many accounts, Trump was hopeful that the Iran 'excursion' would be wrapped up by now, but it now seems to be sliding into protracted quagmire - critics point out.
The WSJ says that Beijing is feeling confident as it prepares to receive Trump and what's looking to be a ratherlarge entourage:
But behind the scenes, Beijing feels more emboldened, and more insistent on defending areas it regards as vital to its long-term strategic interests.
These include resisting U.S. pressure to relax its grip over global supply chains and fundamentally rebalance trade between the two countries. They also include urging Washington to look the other way as it pressures Taiwan, the self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its own, and as itprojects military poweracross Asia.
“They feel very well about how last year played out,” said Jonathan Czin, a fellow at the Washington-based Brookings Institution and a former U.S. intelligence officer focused on China. “They showed they could weather the storm and the administration had to climb down from the tariffs and spend most of the past year trying to mollify China.”
As for more implications of the Iran war dragging on as Trump goes to Beijing, CNBCwrites:
Iran’s ambassador to China Reza Rahmani Fazli in aTuesday post on Xpressed Tehran's case with Beijing, saying that the relationship between the two is too strong for the U.S. to overcome.
The bottom line is that higher energy prices are baked in for the foreseeable future. The price of crude oil makes up about half of thecost of a gallon of gas, according to the Energy Information Administration.
Source: ZeroHedge News
