...these appointments of China hawks are sending a warning shot that puts the US and China on a probable collision course in 2025, with Australia dangerously in the 'crossfire'.
...as Dr Nouriel Roubini fears that the biggest threat comes from the Trump administration's desire to weaken China beyond just Biden's strategic competition.
Trump taps China hawks in Beijing’s ‘nightmare come true’ Nancy Cook
Updated Nov 12, 2024 – 3.40pm,first published at 1.53pm
Washington | President-elect Donald Trump has picked two men with track records of harshly criticising China to join his administration, a sign that relations between the world’s biggest superpowers are likely to fray in the coming years.
Senator Marco Rubio – who has taken an aggressive stance on China’s emergence as an economic power and has twice been hit with sanctions by Beijing – is expected to be named secretary of state.
Representative Mike Waltz, who views China as a “greater threat” to the US than any other nation, is in line to be national security advisor.
The selection of Mr Rubio and Mr Waltz adds to expectations that China and the US will again have a fraught relationship during Trump’s second term in office. The two sides fought a trade war starting in 2018, and tensions included episodes such as the tit-for-tat closure of consulates.
Mr Rubio was among several US officials Beijing sanctioned in 2020 after the first Trump administration moved to punish China for its handling of Hong Kong and Xinjiang, home to China’s Muslim minority Uyghurs. Those sanctions could make it difficult for China to deal with the potential top American diplomat, who is barred from entering the Asian country because of those sanctions.
“It would be a nightmare coming true if he got the job,” said Zhu Junwei, a former researcher in the People’s Liberation Army who is now director of American research at Grandview Institution in Beijing. “China has to consider what to do with the sanctions on him before being able to have any engagement with him.” Confront China threat
The pick of Mr Waltz would elevate a former Army Green Beret and combat veteran of Afghanistan to a role co-ordinating foreign policy in the West Wing and briefing the president on global crises.
Days before the US election, he wrote in The Economist that America should end conflicts in Europe and the Middle East so it can confront “the greater threat” from China.
“America is not building armed forces to deny a Chinese attack on Taiwan,” he wrote in the article, co-authored with former Pentagon strategist Matthew Kroenig. “It has cut defence spending in real terms, allowing the balance of power to shift in China’s favour.”
“A new administration should increase defence spending and revitalise the defence-industrial base to make sure its armed forces are clearly capable of denying a Chinese attack on Taiwan,” the pair wrote.
China sees Taiwan as a wayward province that must be brought under its control someday, by force if required, and allows no room for negotiation on the topic. President Joe Biden has repeatedly said Washington would come to Taipei’s aid in the event of a Chinese invasion, blurring America’s long-standing position of strategic ambiguity.
Mr Rubio campaigned extensively for Trump and was on the shortlist to serve as his running mate. Florida’s senior senator helped the campaign reach out to Latino communities and spoke at a rally in Pennsylvania on the final day of the campaign to introduce Trump in Spanish.
While Mr Rubio has taken an aggressive stance on China’s emergence as an economic power, he has also supported Israel’s war in Gaza and its attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon. He is a strong supporter of NATO and served on both the Senate Intelligence Committee and the Foreign Relations Committee.
Mr Rubio has defended Trump’s position to bring a swift end to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, calling for talks that could result in Kyiv giving up territory occupied by Russian forces.
“I’m not on Russia’s side – but unfortunately the reality is that the way the war in Ukraine is going to end is with a negotiated settlement,” Mr Rubio said on NBC’s Meet the Press in September. “And I want, and we want, and, I believe Donald Trump wants, for Ukraine to have more leverage in that negotiation.”
Mr Rubio’s nomination as top US diplomat would cap off his evolving relationship with Trump. The two faced off in the 2016 Republican primary for president, and Trump mocked Mr Rubio on the debate stage by nicknaming him “Little Marco” and pointing out the size of his hands.
Mr Rubio responded by calling Trump “the most vulgar” person to ever aspire to be president. Yet once Trump entered the White House, he worked hard to repair the relationship.
He has also known Trump’s incoming White House chief of staff Susie Wiles for years, both having been ensconced in Republican politics in Florida.
Trump this week also appointed Congresswoman Elise Stefanik as his ambassador to the United Nations. She has been one of Donald Trump’s most ferocious allies for years, defending him during his two impeachments, amplifying his lies about the 2020 election and rallying behind his comeback campaign.
