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Background Briefing:
China: Shrill Reaction to
Comments by Rex Tillerson
Carlyle A. Thayer
January 13, 2017

[client name deleted]

Do you have any response to the Chinese state media's furious reaction to Rex
Tillerson's remarks today to the Senate Armed Forces Committe, including the threat
of "large-scale war" if the United States tried to block access to the islands?
See: http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1028568.shtml
Separately, what do you think this bodes for the future relationship between China
and the US?
ANSWER: The Chinese media reaction is much more shrill than the low keyed response
by the Foreign Ministry. Xi Jinping previously hoped to meet with Donald Trump at the
Davos Summit. Rex Tillerson comments go far beyond what Trump has tweeted or
said in his debates with Hillary Clinton. They are not yet formal U.S. policy. The Chinese
media response may be read as an attempt to shape the verbal battleground. China is
all huff and puff in an attempt to intimidate its opponents. On the other hand, what
Tillerson is advocating would amount roughly to the Kennedy Administrations
imposition of a blockade around Cuba during the 1962 missile crisis.
As for the future of U.S.-China relations, my estimation is that Trump seeks better
terms of trade with China and that issues related to the South China Sea are bargaining
chips towards this end.

Suggested citation: Carlyle A. Thayer, China: Shrill Reaction to Comments by Rex

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