Trump Calls Xi A Good Friend As China’s Communist Strongman Invokes The Thucydides Trap And Places Taiwan Squarely In The Crosshairs

Xi Jinping did not casually mention the Thucydides Trap, he chose it like a dagger wrapped in silk. The very mention of it is a taunt to the American president. That phrase describes the moment when a rising power challenges an established power and the pressure between them makes war more likely. Xi knows exactly what that means. In that framework, China is the rising power, America is the aging empire, and Taiwan is the tripwire. So when Xi raises the Thucydides Trap in front of Trump, while Taiwan is sitting at the center of the talks, he is not merely warning against conflict. He is showing open aggression to Washington with the possibility that China’s rise may now be unstoppable.

“Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?” Psalms 2:1 (KJB)

That is what makes Trump’s “it’s an honor to be your friend” language so dangerous and so revealing. Xi is not Trump’s friend. Xi is the Communist ruler of a nation that believes Taiwan belongs under Beijing’s control, and he is reminding the American president that history has a pattern: the old power resists, the new power presses, and somewhere between fear and ambition the shooting starts. China wants America to “manage” the rivalry by backing away from Taiwan. America wants to preserve its Pacific order without triggering war. But Taiwan cannot be both surrendered and defended at the same time.

Taiwan becomes flashpoint of Trump-Xi summit as Rubio warns Beijing of ‘repercussions’ for invasion

FROM THE NY POST: President Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, were all smiles and full of public praise for each other at the start of their much-anticipated summit meeting here Thursday. A very different story began to emerge behind closed doors after Xi continually pressed the issue of Taiwan, the self-governing, democratic island that China claims as its own. The mid-morning sit-down ran long — about 40 minutes over its scheduled time. Trump was notably quieter at the leaders’ next stop, the 15th-century Temple of Heaven. He ignored shouted questions, and the body language of both presidents was noticeably stiffer. The Chinese quickly put out their version of the reasons why.

“President Xi stressed to President Trump that the Taiwan question is the most important issue in China-US relations,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning wrote on X soon after the meeting broke up. “If it is handled properly, the bilateral relationship will enjoy overall stability. Otherwise, the two countries will have clashes and even conflicts, putting the entire relationship in great jeopardy. “Taiwan independence’ and cross-Strait peace are as irreconcilable as fire and water,” Mao went on. “Safeguarding peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is the biggest common denominator between China and the US.”

The White House did not release its own readout of the bilateral meeting for several hours — and that statement made no mention of Taiwan. Communications director Steven Cheung refused to talk about the topic when reporters for The Post and other outlets saw him at the state banquet, instead directing them to the official statement. READ MORE

China issues ‘veiled threat’ over Taiwan to Trump and the United States

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The post Trump Naively Calls Xi A ‘Good Friend’ While China’s Communist Strongman Invokes The ‘Thucydides Trap’ As A Taunt To The Rising Power Of The East appeared first on Now The End Begins.