U.S. and China Ink Military Agreements; Mattis And His Troop Talk - August 16, 2017

Media Report

August 16 , 2017

Foreign Policy：U.S. and China Ink Military Agreements; Mattis And His Troop Talk
Foreign Policy comments: "President Trump and the North Korean regime of Kim Jong Un have scaled back the rhetoric in recent days, after a week of sparring over North Korea's missile and nuclear programs that had many fearing the two countries were stumbling toward military conflict. But things remain dicey. Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs has spent the last several days in China meeting with military and political leaders, and on Wednesday, will make what the WSJ says is a rare visit 'to the Chinese armed-forces command that oversees the territory bordering North Korea, a move experts say suggests Beijing's displeasure with Pyongyang.' Dunford and his counterpart, Gen. Fang Fenghui signed an agreement aimed at improving communication between the their military forces that will 'reduce the risk of miscalculation' in the region, according to a Pentagon statement. Muscle flexing. Tensions have cooled, but are hardly gone. In the coming days, thousands of U.S. and South Korean forces will conduct an annual war game guaranteed to anger the North, which sees such demonstrations as a provocation."
CNN：China is America's biggest creditor once again
CNN reports: "China's vast holdings of U.S. government debt jumped $44 billion to $1.15 trillion in June, according to U.S. Treasury Department data. That took China above Japan, which offloaded $21 billion in U.S. bonds in the month. Japan had held the position of Uncle Sam's biggest creditor for the previous eight months, but Beijing's renewed appetite for U.S. debt has brought it back to the top. China was dumping U.S. Treasuries in 2016 so that it could buy its own currency -- the yuan -- to counter downward pressure caused by a huge outflow of cash from its economy. Since early this year, however, its holdings of U.S. debt have steadily ticked up. The shift coincides with new government controls on money leaving China that have helped ease the pressure on the yuan. The Chinese currency has gained almost 4% against the dollar so far this year."
The Washington Post：Can the United States play North Korea against China?
The Washington Post comments: "For decades, the United States has been trying to get China to use its influence and power to isolate North Korea. Now, experts are asking, why doesn't the United States try working with North Korea to isolate China? That could be a game changer not just for the North Korea crisis but for the entire region. The Kim Jong Un regime is no friend of Beijing. In fact, China-North Korea relations are at a historic low point since the young Kim came to power. Kim has refused to meet with senior Chinese leaders, and he even apparently assassinated his own half-brother, who was living under Chinese protection. The time might be right to approach Kim with a better deal for his regime and his people by offering him a grand bargain that would take North Korea away from China and bring it into the camp of the United States and its allies. It's a difficult gambit, for sure. But even if the United States can't peel North Korea fully away from its chief sponsor state, opening that avenue of diplomacy might still be useful toward breaking the stalemate between Washington and Pyongyang."

Calendar

News

Commentary

Foreign Policy U.S. and China Ink Military Agreements; Mattis And His Troop Talk
The Washington Post Can the United States play North Korea against China?
The New York Times Squeezed by an India-China Standoff, Bhutan Holds Its Breath
Forbes One Thing The U.S. Has Over China: Youth
The Wall Street Journal IMF and China Don't See Eye-to-Eye
The National Interest Are Russia and China Preparing for War?
Forbes China's Biggest Mobile Payment Solutions Are Taking Root In U.S. and Europe