The U.S. president-elect took the first steps up the ladder of escalation, but China’s seizure of a naval drone shows it’s glad to follow.
Beijing Is Ready To Go Eyeball to Eyeball With Trump
Spring has come early to the South China Sea. Many analysts had assumed that China would do something to test the newly elected president once he was in office. George W. Bush faced an earlier incident when a Chinese frigate nearly rammed the USNS Bowditch in March 2001 and the spy plane collision a few weeks later, months after he was inaugurated. Barack Obama had the USNS Impeccable incident in March 2009. But for President-elect Donald Trump, China’s seizure of an underwater drone, affiliated with the USNS Bowditch, has come ahead of schedule.
We can only speculate why. Perhaps this was a response to Trump’s controversial phone call with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and subsequent comments about changing America’s stance toward the “One-China” policy. Perhaps it was something that was going to happen anyway.