'Rookie' Trump must fall into line: China media
SOURCE
Donald Trump is a "diplomatic rookie" who must learn not to cross Beijing on issues like trade and Taiwan, Chinese state media said Tuesday, warning America could pay dearly for his naivety.
Trump's
protocol-shattering call with Taiwan's president and a subsequent
Twitter tirade against Beijing's policies could risk upending the
delicate balance between the world's two largest economies, major media
outlets said.
"Provoking
friction and messing up China-US relations won't help 'make America
great again'", said a front-page opinion piece in the overseas edition
of Communist Party mouthpiece People's Daily.
The
nationalist Global Times newspaper's Chinese edition also ran a
page-one story on Trump's "inability to keep his mouth shut", damning
his "provocation and falsehoods".
Trump
fired off two tweets on Sunday blasting China for devaluing its
currency, taxing US imports, and building military installations in the
South China Sea.
The
comments followed criticism of Trump in US and Chinese media for taking
a congratulatory phone call from Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, a
move that flew in the face of nearly 40 years of diplomatic protocol and
raised questions about whether the president-elect intends to pursue a
hard line against Beijing.
Official
reaction from Beijing has been muted, but China often uses state media
to telegraph its policy positions, sometimes employing rhetoric beyond
the diplomatic pale.
The Global Times' English-language edition filled its opinion pages with editorials slamming the president-elect.
The often brittle, provocative publication is not considered "official" media, but has close ties to the ruling party.
Noting
that Sino-US relations had reached a delicate equilibrium thanks to
years of careful management, an editorial in the paper warned that Trump
"can make a lot of noise but that does not exempt him from the rules of
the major power game," adding that he "doesn't have sufficient
resources" to be provocative with China.
"Trump's
China-bashing tweet is just a cover for his real intent, which is to
treat China as a fat lamb and cut a piece of meat off it," it said.
"He
is trying to pillage other countries for US prosperity," it warned, but
instead he will unwittingly "smash the current world economic order" of
which the US is the "biggest beneficiary."
A
companion commentary warned that Trump "will in time learn not to cross
China", threatening "a fierce competition" with Beijing if the US
increases arm sales to Taiwan.
It was illustrated by an editorial cartoon showing an eagle throwing pebbles at a large, scowling panda.
Meanwhile
the English-language China Daily newspaper warned that "diplomatic
rookie" Trump needs to moderate his behaviour or he will create "costly
troubles for his country".
"As
president-elect, Trump can expect some forgiveness even when he is
shooting from the hip. But things will be different when he becomes
president."
- 'Sobering' -
During
the presidential campaign, Trump frequently targeted China for fiscal
and trade policies that he claimed cost the US millions of jobs.
While
China seems to have hoped the rhetoric was more bark than bite, inital
signs suggests he will continue to take an aggressive line on the
world's second largest economy.
"If
Trump continues talking this way after taking office... China is going
to have to make some adjustments in its thinking," Jia Qingguo,
professor at Peking University, told AFP, calling the comments
"sobering".
Trump's
decision to speak with Taiwan's president seems to have particularly
rattled Beijing, which regards the democratically-ruled island of 23
million a renegade province, though it has its own legal and military
systems and has not been under Beijing's control for more than 60 years.
"This
call was no accident," said Trey McArver, analyst for China Politics
Weekly. "It is clear that Trump associates, including chief of staff
Reince Priebus, have had repeated contact with Tsai and her people in
recent months and were well aware of what they were doing."
Report: China military buildup seen at India border
Kanwa Asian Defense, a news site specializing in military developments, reported Tuesday Beijing's military has placed more missiles and fighter jets along the India border.
The weapons have been deployed in Tibet and in the western region of Xinjiang along with airborne early warning and control systems, according to the report.
Kanwa quoted sources in the Indian navy and air force who said Chinese troops have placed the Jian-11, the Jian-10 and the Kongjing-500 in rotational deployment.
The Shenyang J-11 is a twin-engine jet fighter that was first produced in China in 1998. It was built to compete with fourth-generation fighters such as the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle and the Eurofighter Typhoon.
The Chengdu J-10 is a lightweight fighter jet and the KJ-500 can carry an airborne early warning system.
In the city of Korla in Xinjiang, China may have deployed a troop responsible for the launch of midrange ballistic missiles, and in Hotan, an oasis town in southwestern Xinjiang, the country has been deploying the J-10 and the strategic bomber H-6K.
The large-scale military build-up is aimed at expanding a position of readiness in the case of a confrontation with the Indian military, the sources said.
