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7 4
July-August 2018
INTERNATIONAL
by Joseph de Búrca
Trump, making China Great again
China has used Kim Jong-un to distract and bamboozle Donald Trump
while in the background it has outmanoeuvred US economic and
strategic interests in Asia. Beijing is now in pole position to dominate
the South China Seas and the $5 trillion worth of trade which passes
through it annually. Japan, the US and the UK will be the big losers
Chinese naval vessels
A MENTALLY DERANGED U.S.
DOTARD
Donald Trump believes that his bellicose
outbursts have cowed Kim Jong-un of North
Korea into submission and that he will soon
persuade him to dismantle North Korea’s
arsenal of missiles and shut down his
nuclear development programme. In reality,
Jong-un and his Chinese allies are laughing
up their silk sleeves at the ‘mentally
deranged U.S. dotard’ America has chosen
to lead it.
The world was transfixed during the last
year by the intercontinental exchange of
insults and threats between the pair. For
example, on 8 August, 2017, Trump told
reporters at his golf club in Bedminster, New
Jersey that, “Nor th Korea best not make any
more threats to the United States. They will
be met with fire and fury like the world has
never seen”.
On 22 September, 2017, Jong-un described
Trump as a “frightened dog” who was
"surely a rogue and a gangster fond of play-
ing with fire, rather than a politician and as
a mentally deranged US dotard”. A few
months ago, Jong-un took his train on a
secret visit to China to meet his ally and pro-
tector, Xi Jinping, the Leader of China. The
meeting didn’t remain a secret long with pic
-
tures of Jong-un’s famous green train
appearing in the media across the globe.
After his secret discussions, Jong-un
returned home and executed a swift u-turn
that put him on the path to an apparent
accommodation with his soon-to-be new
best friend, Trump.
The dynamic between Trump and Kim
Jong-un is part of a much larger picture.
Trump is too much of a headbanger to appre-
ciate how he is being played. While there
are scores of ‘China hands’ in the State
Office, the CIA, and even in the media; not
to mention the business
world, who could put him
straight, they are powerless
to penetrate the phalanx of
troglodytes, family mem-
bers and morons who
surround him.
CHINA’S
RELENTLESS
TAKEOVER OF
THE SOUTH CHINA
SEAS, $5 TRILLION
PER ANNUM IS AT
STAKE
China’s overarching desire is to dominate
the South China Seas (SCSs) through which
20% to 25% of the planet’s trade passes –
amounting to five trillion annually.
The SCSs have been in dispute for dec-
ades. China has claimed dominion over most
of the waters. China’s ambitious bid for
control was resisted by Cambodia, the
Philippines and others in the region who
claimed the waters should be shared by
all of the regional powers. After China
seized control of the Scarborough Shoals
a few years ago, the Philippines brought
China to the Permanent Court of Arbi-
tration in the Hague which ultimately
ruled against China’s claim.
Trump has done nothing meaningful
or effective to stop China’s slow but
relentless takeover of the SCS. Instead,
he allowed himself be convulsed by his
schoolyard spat with Jong-un. In par-
ticular, Trump has done nothing to stop
Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines from
abandoning the Hauge ruling in return
for billions of Chinese investment. This
has allowed China to quite literally dig itself
into the atolls and islands which sprinkle
the SCSs. The Chinese have built man-made
islands on the atolls with landing strips and
harbours. Military analysts believe that
there are silos containing missiles which can
be launched from them. China is now in a
position to dictate to the world what will
and will not sail through the SCSs. The envi-
ronmental damage to the reefs has been
colossal. The Chinese will cling to these
atolls like barnacles. Nothing short of war-
fare will now remove them.
JET SKI DIPLOMACY IN THE
PHILIPPINES
While he was running for the Presidency of
the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte declared
that he ‘was ready to die’ to preserve his
country’s interest in that part of the SCSs
over which the Philippines claimed sover-
eignty. He even boasted he would ride his
jet ski to plant a Philippine flag on one of
the man-made islands. However, after he
won the election in June 2016, he received
a visit from the Chinese who promised to
invest billions in the Philippines and he per-
formed a deft u-turn on his jet ski and gave
the Chinese a free hand to proceed with
their military build-up
The Philippines was once a firm and sub-
servient ally of the US. Duterte has taken a
different path. After his election he
unleashed a murderous crackdown on drug
dealers which put him at odds with Barack
Obama. Obama was aghast and spoke out
against Duter te who dubbed him a “whore”
in response. The present calculation is that
12,000 people have been wiped out by
police and vigilantes.
A FINE BROMANCE, TRUMP
AND DUTERTE 'DIRTY' HARRY
Trump, however, has enjoyed a bromance
with Duterte. Trump first rang him on 29
April 2017. We know exactly what they said
to each other because a transcript of the
exchange was leaked to the media. Trump
July-August 2018
7 5
A map of the South China Seas
A close-up of the Woody Islands
The Trump-Duterte Bromance: “You are the light in my
world. You are the love I’ve been waiting for.” Duterte
crooned to Trump at the banquet in Manila
7 6
July-August 2018
began by saying, “I just wanted to congratu-
late you because I am hearing of the
unbelievable job [you are doing] on the drug
problem. Many countries have the problem,
we have a problem, but what a great job you
are doing and I just want to call and tell you
that.”
When Duterte responded that drugs were
the “scourge of my nation”, Trump re-joined
by saying that he understood that this was
so and that “we had a previous president
who did not understand that”. This, of
course, was a reference to Obama.
Later during the call, Trump sought for-
eign policy advice from Duterte about Kim
Jong-Un. “What’s your opinion of him, Roder-
igo? Are we dealing with someone who [is]
stable or not stable?
Duterte gave an answer that can only have
been music to Chinese ears: “He is not
stable, Mr President, as he keeps on smiling
when he explodes a rocket. Every genera-
tion has a madman”.
“We can’t let a madman with nuclear
weapons on the loose like that”, Duterte
added.
Trump lapped all this up and twice invited
Duterte to the Oval Office.
Trump visited Manila himself for a summit
in November 2017, yet did nothing concrete
to steer Duterte’s jet ski around again to
conf ront the Chinese. Instead, he let the Fili-
pino blow smoke up his ass. During a
banquet Duterte serenaded Trump. “You are
the light in my world. You are the love I’ve
been waiting for,” he crooned. The next day,
prior to Trump’s speech on regional security,
Trump told Duterte that his singing had been
“fantastic”.
Duterte’s cosy relationship with China has
waxed and waned over the SCSs. By the
time his presidency is over, he will probably
have performed more U-turns than a Manila
driving instructor but the bottom line is that
the Chinese have got their way.
THE LOSERS WILL INCLUDE
JAPAN
Another ingredient in all of this is a seeth-
ing anger against Japan that per vades China.
The Chinese have not forgiven the Japa-
nese for the hideous war crimes they
perpetrated on Chinese soil during World
War II and their indifference and lack of
remorse for them ever since. There are ele-
ments within the Chinese military which
would obliterate the country in the blink of
an eye if they thought they could get away
with it. North Korea did not develop its mili-
tary prowess without help from the Chinese
top brass. Both regimes have derived enor-
mous satisfaction from slinging missiles into
Japanese waters from North Korea.
The fraught tensions between China and
Japan have been aggravated by a mutually
antagonistic claim to sovereignty over the
Senkaku Islands. Three of the islands were
in private ownership until 2012 when they
were ostensibly sold to Tokyo. China
objected to the conveyance claiming the
islands belonged to them and put forward
a historical basis for their claim. China’s
agenda was to safeguard its forward mili-
tary operations in the region. This led to
friction, the ramming of boats and a trade
dispute. The Japanese had wanted to build
a harbour in the area but never did.
From time to time the tensions have esca-
lated to near warfare. In 2013 China declared
an “Air Defence Identification Zone” around
the islands designed to “guard against
potential air threats”. On 23 November,
2013, China then sent air force jets,
INTERNATIONAL
Military analysts believe that there are silos on the man-
made islands from which missilese can be launched
The Senkaku Islands
The Prime Minister of Japan meets two of Trump’s most
senior foreign policy advisers
Kim Jong-un, shrewd operator or real-life James Bond
villain?
After his visit to China, Kim Jong-un has decided to become Trump’s new best friend
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7 8
July-August 2018
including fighter planes, to carr y out a patrol
mission. On 26 November, 2013, Obama
ordered his aerial warlords to fly two
B-52 bombers through the zone on the basis
that the area was an international water and
airspace. One of his spokesman stated that
“The U.S. military will continue conducting
flight operations in the region, including with
our allies and partners.... We will not register
a flight plan, we will not identify our tran-
sponder, our radio frequency and logo.’
Helping North Korea fire rockets at Japan has
given the Chinese military one outlet to release
the pent-up fury it feels towards Japan.
POST-BREXIT BRITAIN
Another big loser of the Chinese domination of
the SCSs will be Britain. Chinese resentment
against Britain dates back to the days of the
Opium Wars which, to many Chinese, may as
well have only happened yesterday. The loath-
ing felt by China’s latter-day mandarins against
Britain was given a new lease of life during the
negotiations over the withdrawal from Hong
Kong.
Af ter Brexit, the UK should not expect to find
the Chinese Navy waving fleets of British mer-
chant shippers through the South China Seas
with beaming and subservient oriental smiles
as part of an advantageous trading arrange-
ment with China.
SOUTH KOREA’S TERMINAL
HIGH ALTITUDE AREA DEFENCE
(THAAD) MISSILE SYSTEM
And what of the future? In the one corner
stands Xi Jinping, Leader of China, a man of
exceptional intelligence and patience who is
surrounded by an extraordinarily able array of
advisers, strategists and technocrats. He is
also now dictator for life. In the other corner
stands The Donald, a toxic narcissistic child-man
who takes foreign policy advice from the likes
of Duterte Harry, his daughter Ivanka and her
husband Jared Kushner.
Xi Jinping has perfected the art of playing
Trump like a fiddle with Jong-un as his bow. For
his part, Jong-un has perfected the art of mas-
querading as an unhinged lunatic but is
undoubtedly a far more stable and shrew opera-
tor than the Western corporate media and Trump
have given him credit for.
The next step will be for China and North
Korea will be to engineer the expulsion of Ameri-
can military hardware from South Korean soil.
America has installed its Terminal High Alti-
tude Area Defence (THAAD) missile system in
South Korea, alongside all the other military
equipment that bristles across the country. This
development infuriated China which abhors the
lurking presence of any type of military hard-
ware within range of its borders. In its initial
response was to target South Korean companies
in China including food chains which they
claimed were ‘unhygienic’ and began to close
down. This tactic failed, especially as the Ameri-
cans kept the pressure on South Korea to retain
THAAD.
It is against this background that the Chinese
military built up Nor th Korea’s arsenal with Jong-
un’s over-the-top James Bond-baddie act placing
the issue at the top of Trump’s foreign policy
agenda. Jong-un’s arsenal is now a bargaining
chip which can be traded in return for the
decommissioning of THAAD
et al
.
AND THE NOBEL PRIZE GOES TO
THE DONALD
The next step in the North Korean-Chinese
scheme to outmanoeuvre the ‘mentally
deranged U.S. dotard’ will be to conclude an
agreement over mutual disarmament. Trump will
probably seize a deal so he can swipe a Nobel
Peace prize. His support base which consists of
knuckle dragging morons, racists and National
Rifle Association members, will hail this as his
crowning glory and campaign with near-reli-
gious fervour for their Messiah’s re-election. If
he wins China will rejoice.
Village readers interested in the life and times
of Rodrigo Duterte are recommend to purchase
Jonathan Miller’s just published ‘Duter te Harr y’.
Miller, who hails from Northern Ireland, is
Channel 4’s Asia Correspondent. The book is
nothing less than a modern biographical
masterpiece.
INTERNATIONAL
Spot the winner: Trump and Xi Jinping
A Thaad interceptor Jong-un and Trump Move along there, you mentally deranged US dotard
Jong-un has perfected his over-the-top James Bond villain act. Trump has fallen for it hook, line and sinker
