asiatimes | Trump’s real liability isn’t impeachment. It’s China and the economy.
What the Trump administration has been doing so far, vis-à-vis China,
is an own goal — ein Eigentor [“an owner”].
Why is it an eigentor?
Because the effect of the tariffs on the US economy is at least as
bad as the effect of the tariffs on the Chinese economy. American export
orders are collapsing. We have the weakest industrial reading since
June of 2009. We are in a manufacturing recession, according to the
Federal Reserve. Factory output is contracting. Trump won in 2016 by
carrying key manufacturing states like Pennsylvania,
Ohio, Michigan, and
Wisconsin. This blunder could lose him the election. This is much more
dangerous than the impeachment masquerade. China’s also suffering, but
appears to be suffering less.
And the big difference is Xi Jinping
[China’s president] doesn’t have a presidential election in 2020 and
Trump does.
In fact, President Xi will never face an election. He is elected for life.
That is true. But all that can change if he fails to succeed.
You have compared the situation that the US is facing toward China to the siege and conquest of Baghdad by the Mongols in 1258.
The Mongols, by themselves, did not have the capability to penetrate
the twelve-foot-thick walls of the city of Baghdad. But they hired a
thousand Chinese siege engineers. Within three weeks, the Chinese
mercenaries breached the walls, at which point the Mongol horsemen went
in and killed the entire population of Baghdad.
Who are today’s Chinese siege engineers who are breaching the American fortress?
Huawei very much is the spearhead, because in the Chinese model of
economic expansion and the development of world economic power,
broadband is the opener to everything else.
It’s a company with a lot of very talented people. Ten years ago – if
you asked people, “What Chinese products do you buy?” – you wouldn’t
mention a single brand name. But everyone now knows Huawei. They produce
the world’s best smartphones. They certainly dominate 5G internet. But
Huawei is not a Chinese company. It is an imperial company.
The Chinese empire is doing better than us because it’s absorbed the talent of a very large number of others.
