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China Wouldn’t Be Doing What It’s Doing If It Didn’t Think Trump Was Weak
And also, that he doesn’t really care about defending Democracy
Americans have had a lot of big things to care about recently, so one thing they may not have even noticed is just how aggressive China’s been getting, especially in Asia and the Pacific. And China might be seeing that as an opportunity.
A lot of what it’s doing is not exactly new, but instead of chipping away at international norms and alliances, and hazily widening human rights violations, it’s put almost everything out in the open and into high gear.
As if China’s decided the U.S. is not going to go out if its way to defend Democracy. Or is not capable of defending it. Or at very least is testing U.S. resolve, and as it continues to get no firm response, pushes a little harder.
This week, India says Chinese military killed at least 20 of its troops at the border between those countries. The dispute over the exact configuration of that border in the Himalayas is long-running, but these are the first combat fatalities there in 45 years. (And there have been no prolonged military clashes in almost 60 years.)
One of the reasons for the never-ending tension at the border between China and India is the fact that the…