Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Bob Dole Arranged Trump's Call with Taiwan; Trump Adviser Screw China

China is, of course, not happy, especially since Trump followed up the call with bizarre tweets against China.

The Wall Street Journal has the China reaction play-by-play:
The verbal confrontation between President-elect Donald Trump and the Chinese government escalated on Monday, as China responded harshly to attacks by Mr. Trump on its economic and security positions.

The exchange signaled a new and potentially more adversarial relationship between the world’s two largest economies, as Mr. Trump moves to follow through on his campaign-trail promises to challenge China’s trade and currency policies.

Chinese officials late Friday and early Saturday played down Mr. Trump’s precedent-breaking phone call with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen...

The Chinese directed their ire at Taiwan and not at Mr. Trump.

But they signaled their displeasure with a series of Twitter posts Mr. Trump leveled at China over the weekend, as he criticized its currency policies and military presence in the South China Sea.

In a packed press briefing Monday, China’s foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang suggested that Beijing had made its unhappiness directly known to members of Mr. Trump’s team.

The People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s leading newspaper, said in a front-page commentary in Monday’s overseas editions that “Trump and his transition team ought to recognize that creating trouble for China-U.S. relations is just creating trouble for the U.S. itself.” It criticized Mr. Trump’s tweets for portraying the phone call “as not a big deal” and warned that if such “petty tricks” are allowed to go unanswered, Beijing could expect to see more of these provocations once he’s in office.
And now we get news that the crony Bob Dole set Trump's call up with Taiwan. WSJ reports:
Mr. Dole, in an interview, said the law firm he is affiliated with does work with the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the U.S., and that the firm played a role in arranging the phone call. “It’s fair to say that we may have had some influence,” Mr. Dole said.
Murray Rothbard had the goods on Dole decades ago when Dole made a presidential run:
 The probable frontrunner: Everyone knows Bob Dole, and knows him all too well. The ultimate Insider, he has been around too long, is too old in an era when Washington insiders are rightly deeply suspect. Not only that: Dole is a statist to the core; he is High-Tax Dole, Dole the Compromiser, always ready to cave in to the Democracy.
Furthermore, in an age when politicians are expected to be friendly, smiling, and charming, Bob Dole, to the contrary, is bitter and sardonic. As far as I am concerned, that bitterness is his only attractive quality; but my view is scarcely the typicalvoter reaction. Sellouty and statist in content; snarling and bitter in form: not the best recipe for national success....
 He is trusted by no one, and quite rightly, except perhaps by Kansas agricultural interests...
Ever in the mood for a confrontation, the neocons are loving Trump's call to Taiwan. WSJ again:
A number of conservatives, including Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Tom Cotton of Arkansas, have cheered Mr. Trump’s engagement with Taiwan. Mr. Cotton said it was a sign that the U.S. wasn’t going to be complacent anymore over China’s behavior. 

Henry Kissinger, heavily invested in China, has set up a meeting with Trump Tuesday at Trump Tower, no doubt to attempt to get Trump to cool it with the China provocations.

Meanwhile, Trump economic adviser Stephen Moore had this to say during an interview Monday on the Big John and Ray Show on WLS AM890:
I love the fact that Trump did that. Too many mamby-pamby people in the foreign policy shop are saying 'oh my gosh we can't do this, we might insult the Chinese.' I don't care if we insult the Chinese!
That is a country [Taiwan] that we have backed because they believe in freedom. We oughta back our ally, and if China doesn't like it, screw 'em.

-RW

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