Trump Foreign Policy Favors Russia, China At Expense Of Our Old Allies

The Trump/Bannon administration seems to simply be following a foreign policy strategy of cozying up to Russia and China and telling the rest of the world to get lost. Trump's authoritarian words and deeds are being echoed by tin-pot dictators around the country while our allies in Asia and Europe get the cold shoulder. At the same time, Secretary of State Tillerson is aligning US interests with China and now reportedly skipping a NATO foreign minister meeting and instead going to Russia.

The Guardian had a great opinion piece the other day illustrating just how Trump's anti-democratic language is being regurgitated by authoritarian leaders around the world. In the same way that the G.W. Bush slogan of the "war on terror" was used by governments around the world to brand any internal dissent as "terrorism", so too is Trump's attacks on the free press.

Last month, CNN was pulled from the airwaves in Venezuela because, according to the government, its reports "defame and distort the truth". In Cambodia, several media outlets including those from the US were barred from a press briefing and basically told to toe the government's party line or be expelled from the country. But the biggest beneficiaries of Trump's war on the media are, of course, China and Russia. Russia already brands independent press reports that challenge the government as "fake news" and China has followed the same pattern. A foreign correspondent in China commented, "I now feel more vulnerable because the moral gravitas of the Obama administration, and its discourse on press rights, has been wiped out".

China, on the other hand, has every reason to celebrate. Trump quickly backed down on his challenge to the "one China" policy, abandoned other Asian allies with his withdrawal from TPP, and antagonized our Australian allies, perhaps driving them into the arms of the Chinese, essentially opening the door to Chinese dominance in Asia and inviting them in. And Tillerson went to China and repeated verbatim the diplomatic-speak that recognized the pre-eminence of China's self-interest. In the arcane language of diplomacy, China uses the words "mutual respect" to indicate that the core interests of each country will not be challenged. For China, those core interests involve Taiwan, Tibet, Hong Kong, and presumably military dominance in the South China Sea. When Tillerson said the US and China need to build a relationship based on "mutual respect", the Chinese were ecstatic. What was even more disturbing is it is unclear whether Tillerson actually understood the hidden meaning of that phrase or not. Whether he did or not, it certainly provided no reassurance for our other Asian allies. A former national security official described Tillerson's statement thusly, "China’s characterization of the U.S.-China relationship, as exemplified by those phrases, portends U.S. decline and accommodation. Tillerson using these phrases buys into this dangerous narrative, which will only encourage Chinese assertiveness and raise doubts in the region about the future of U.S. commitment and leadership in Asia." You seriously have to wonder whether those investments in Trump-related real estate ventures are paying off big-time for the Chinese.

Last night, it was reported that Tillerson will skip a meeting with NATO allies in early April and attend the "summit" between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping instead. The actual meeting do not, in fact totally overlap as the NATO meeting runs from April 5-6 while the meeting with the Chinese leader is scheduled for April 6-7. Certainly, Tillerson could go to the NATO meeting on the 5th and be back in time for the meeting on the 6th but he might be too fatigued to do that. In fact, NATO reportedly offered to change the dates of the meeting to accommodate Tillerson but were rebuffed. Later in April, Tillerson will head off to meet with Putin in Russia, again another slap in the face of our European allies.

Lastly, this morning DHS announced that it would not allow laptops and tablets to be carried on planes that come to the United States from 10 Middle Eastern airports in eight countries, including three of the most important airline hubs in the region. Those items will now have to included in the checked luggage where, I'm sure, thousands of devices will be stolen or illegally accessed. The Trump administration announced no imminent national security threat that prompted this restriction, although, interestingly, Adam Schiff, the ranking Democratic member on the House Intelligence Committee put out a statement in support of this move, suggesting there might be a specific threat. But without any statement for the Trump administration, it seems like just another gratuitous step in the Muslim ban, making it as difficult and annoying as possible for Muslims to come to this country. I'm not sure how well this will go over with US businessmen who travel to the region or American tourists. It will, however, give a significant advantage to US airlines over those Mideast based airlines like Emirates and Qatar Airways. It might be worth checking on who bought large shares of US airline stock recently. And you really have to wonder how long other countries will take this kind of abuse from Trump before they begin to retaliate against Americans traveling to their countries.

Based on these and other actions, it seems clear that Trump and Bannon envision an authoritarian triumvirate of the US, China, and Russia with basically world dominance. If they can pick off other Western democracies like France to join their little club, all the better.