Trump plans to confront China in Pacific

Meanwhile, China is opposing unilateral sanctions on North Korea outside the framework of Security Council resolutions. 

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula reached a high level in 2015 when Pyongyang conducted two nuclear tests and a string of ballistic missile launches and as a response South Korea is about to complete the deployment of an advanced US missile defense system by May 2017. The tensions will further rise as Russia, China and North Korea termed the action of US  and Seoul as provocative. But Park Geun-hye impeachment has created political uncertainty in South Korea. 

If Trump is thinking of having normal ties with Russia  and using Moscow card to browbeat China then he is bound to fail as because Russia-China ties are far deeper than US-Russia understanding though Putin had in someway helped Trump win the US Presidential elections.

Admiral Harry Harris, head of the US Pacific Command ,warned China that Washington would not accept Chinese control of the South China Sea, despite Beijing’s having undertaken rapid development of artificial islands capable of hosting military planes.

Harris further added “We will cooperate where we can but we will be ready to confront where we must and the US fought its first war following our independence to ensure freedom of navigation”.  

Trump may have to tackle China by involving countries having ties with both the countries and will have to take into confidence his own intelligence agencies,especially the CIA as well as moderate Republican  and Democratic members of Congress.

Article Courtesy : Arti Bali, Senior Journalist & Analyst