Tag: Donald Trump

That is what some experts in China believe when compared to his competitor Hillary Clinton:

China features prominently in the rhetoric of presumed Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who accuses the country of stealing American jobs and cheating at global trade. In China though, he’s only just emerging as a public figure, despite notoriety elsewhere for his voluble utterances, high-profile businesses and reality TV shows.

Although the government has denounced Trump’s threats of economic retaliation, many Chinese observers see a silver lining in his focus on economic issues instead of human rights and political freedoms. That could make him an attractive alternative to his likely rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Trump “could in fact be the best president for China,” Hong Kong Phoenix Television political commentator Wu Jun said during a recent on-air discussion.

“That’s because the Republican Party is more practical and Trump is a businessman who puts his commercial interests above everything else,” Wu said. Clinton, on the other hand, “might be the least friendly president toward China.”  [Associated Press]

You can read more at the link, but considering all of Clinton links to Chinese money it seems like she would be the preferred Chinese government candidate despite her human rights rhetoric.

The Donald has once again put allies on notice that they better be ready to pay up in a Trump Presidency:

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said Friday he will continue to defend South Korea, but wants the Asian ally to pay more for American defense support.

Speaking on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Trump also said that he’s willing to hold talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, but won’t go to the communist nation.

“As far as Japan and South Korea are concerned, all I’m saying is we defend them. They are paying us a tiny fraction of what it’s costing. I want them to pay,” Trump said. “I would love to continue to defend Japan. I would love to continue to defend South Korea. We have 28,000 soldiers on the line between North and South Korea right now.”

Trump has unnerved foreign countries, especially such allies as South Korea and Japan, as he has displayed deeply negative views of U.S. security commitments overseas, contending the U.S. should stop being the policeman of the world.

The real-estate tycoon has said that the U.S. should be prepared to end protection of allies unless they pay more. He even suggested allowing South Korea and Japan to develop their own nuclear weapons for self-defense so as to reduce U.S. security burdens.

“We are not a country that can afford to defend Saudi Arabia, Germany, the NATO nations, 28 NATO nations, many of which are not paying us and they’re not living up to their agreement,” Trump said on MSNBC. “Japan, South Korea, nobody, we’re like the dummies that protect everybody. All I’m saying is, we have to get reimbursed because we can’t afford it.”  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but I was glad to see Trump finally put some focus on Middle Eastern and European nations instead of just Korea and Japan.

Trump says he’s open to direct talks with Kim. The US policy of deterrence is working very well @JohnDelury. https://t.co/0EAAVDZ7Ak

— Daniel A. Pinkston (康大植) (@dpinkston) May 18, 2016

A Korean researcher with a think tank has published an opinion article on why the South Korean government should take advantage of Trump’s offer to allow the ROK to develop nuclear weapons if he is elected President.  To break the status quo on the Korean peninsula it would take a policy that has the potential to really shake up the current security paradigm which the ROK developing nuclear weapons would definitely do:

Rather than criticizing Trump, Korea may announcethat it would not develop at this time, but prepare for development of nuclear and anti-nuclear weapons. While seriouslyand feverishly working on these weapons, Korea may ask China, as well as the U.S., to strongly intervene in North Korean affairs to abandon their nuclear programs as a condition for Korea to abandon its own nuclear programs.

In view of North Korea’s progress made in developing short-range missiles that can carry nuclear weapons, Trump’s view may well providea timely diplomatic cover for Korea to really improve its defensive posture and to put heavy pressure for North Korea to negotiate.

When the opponent is as vicious and sneaky as leaders of North Korea, who made complete fools out of Bill Clinton and Kim Dae-jung as well as all of Kim Dae-jung’s successors before Park Geunjye, Korea has to negotiate from the position of strength without which North Korea will clearly not give in. [Korea Times]

You can read the rest at the link.

Basically this advisor is stating in the interview that Trump has to say one thing on the campaign trail, but once elected President he will be more flexible on the policies he is campaigning on:

A President Donald Trump will neither abandon South Korea nor let the Asian ally defend itself against threats from North Korea, a top foreign policy adviser to the presumptive Republican presidential nominee said.

Walid Phares, an international relations scholar who serves as Trump’s foreign policy brain, made the remark in an interview with Yonhap News Agency and Yonhap News Television, stressing that Trump’s remarks, such as his call for Seoul to shoulder all costs for U.S. troop presence, should be taken only as an expression of “principles.”  (………..)

“At this point in time he is a candidate. He’s a Republican candidate, practically speaking. So, he will talk about principles, and those principles mean burden-sharing. He wants the South Korean government to share more,” Phares said. “There is a principle … that America alone cannot be defending the world. It does not mean that America wants to withdraw from the world.”

Trump will see “what the South Koreans can offer, or what the Japanese would offer, what our friends in the Middle East could offer. Then he would negotiate. He is good at negotiations,” Phares said of the call for defense burden-sharing.

Such negotiations do not mean Trump will abandon South Korea, Phares said.

“If South Korea is threatened by either North Korea, or other players, a Trump administration would be standing by the South Koreans. There is no idea that we’re going to let South Korea or Japan defend themselves against a threat,” he said.

Referring to Trump’s call for South Korea to shoulder all costs for American troop presence, Phares said that the real estate tycoon “wants to show the maximum” as a negotiator before settling for reality. And such maximum positions could evolve over time, he said.  [Yonhap]

You can read the rest of the interview at the link, but the bottom line is that if Trump is elected the ROK government best be ready to pay more USFK cost sharing than the 50% they are paying now.  Considering Japan is currently paying 75% I would not be surprised if that is the number that Trump may want to settle on.

I am not sure why Trump continues to go after South Korea on this issue, when it comes to freeloading US allies South Korea is not the best example to use in my opinion:

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said Wednesday that South Korea should pay for all costs related to U.S. troop presence in the country.  Trump made the remark in an interview with CNN, reiterating his long-running argument that the U.S. should be prepared to let allies defend themselves unless they pay more for American defense support.  “Why not a 100 percent?” Trump said as the interviewer pointed out that Seoul already shoulders about 50 percent of the cost.

 

Asked if he meant that countries like South Korea, Japan and Germany should pick up all the expenses, Trump said, “Of course they should pick up all the expense. Why are we paying for this?”   Trump also said the U.S. should be “prepared to walk” unless allies pay more, referring apparently to the potential troop withdrawal. In that case, the countries should defend themselves “against North Korea (where) we have a maniac.”  “If they don’t take care of us properly, if they don’t respect us enough to take care of us properly, then you know what will have to happen? Very simple, they’re going to have to defend themselves,” he said.  [Yonhap]

You can read the rest at the link.

In a Trump Presidency a big change for the military will be that General Officers will no longer be allowed to talk to the media:

If he becomes commander in chief, Donald Trump won’t let military generals speak to “the dishonest press,” out of fear they’ll spill national security secrets.  “I don’t want them saying things like ‘our nation has never been so ill-prepared.’ Even though it’s true, I don’t want the enemy knowing that.”“A general should not be on television,” the Republican front-runner told a crowd of supporters during a rally at Carmel, Indiana, on Monday. “I don’t want our generals on television. I will prohibit them.  [Military Times]

You can read more at the link.

Have you ever wondered what Koreans think of Donald Trump?  Well someone found out:

Hat Tip: Reddit Korea

https://twitter.com/ZacharyKeck/status/718447705182314496

With the nuclear threat North Korea is building and the continued territorial aggressiveness of the Chinese developing nuclear weapons in both South Korea and Japan may happen eventually anyway:

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has reiterated that he is open to allowing South Korea and Japan to have nuclear weapons so as to defend themselves against threats from North Korea.

Trump made the remark during a town hall meeting televised on CNN Tuesday night, stressing that the North has nuclear weapons and the U.S. is no longer rich enough to defend other wealthy nations, like Japan, South Korea and Saudi Arabia.

“Can I be honest are you? Maybe it’s going to have to be time to change, because so many people, you have Pakistan has it, you have China has it. You have so many other countries are now having it,” Trump said, referring to nuclear weapons.

“At some point we have to say, you know what, we’re better off if Japan protects itself against this maniac in North Korea. We’re better off, frankly, if South Korea is going to start to protect itself,” Trump said, referring to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Asked again if he means it’s OK for Japan, South Korea and even Saudi Arabia to have nuclear weapons, Trump said, “It’s going to happen anyway. It’s going to happen anyway. It’s only a question of time. They’re going to start having them or we have to get rid of them entirely.”  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.