Trade War with China

I can't think of a single military weapons system China would want to import from the US that they would be willing to sell to them.
If China does increase imports it will likely be things they already purchase from the US like food or civilian aircraft.

tidalwave said:

There's hole to that argument US bluffing about decoupling.

Many conservative would love to go back pre Nixon time when China was not engaged. There's this sentiment of big regret of engaging China and brought it to WTO subsequently. This cold war against China is seen as redemption.

Many of them think by decoupling, China would greatly dimished and that means China would less capable of challenging US leadership in the world.

To them, that perceived benefit would outweight the idea of controlling China.
Boxing China to a hole and contained is a very appealing idea to them.

To them even if it means costing more to US. To greatly dimish the strongest opponent is worth it.

Read about Peter morici article.

China , cannot take that as bluffing, it has to prepare for that .

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Fully agreed. China needs to prepare for total containment efforts and total decoupling efforts inflicted by the U.S. Not to do so would be the greatest strategic miscalculation of the 21st century. Sometimes I can only breathe a sigh of relief and be thankful that strategic planning on a national level is not left to all these internet people who think "oh it's just a bluff, we don't have to be prepared for this.

If strategic national decision making were left to these people, they'd see no need for a strategic oil reserve, strategic food reserve, strategic nuclear arms, etc. It's just a waste of money to buy something and let it sit around, so let's not buy it. Oh they'd never starve us of fuel or food, who would commit such an atrocity? Answer: Only every great power in history. We need look no further than the 20th and 21st century to see the victims of such strategies: North Korea, Iran, Japan, Yemen, Vietnam, USSR, Germany, UK, Venezuela, the list goes on.

gelgoog said:

I can't think of a single military weapons system China would want to import from the US that they would be willing to sell to them.
If China does increase imports it will likely be things they already purchase from the US like food or civilian aircraft.

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There's a limit to how much food a population can eat. And US food has poor reputation in China, it's not going to be a bestseller among consumers.

Civilian aircraft may be a part of that, but private companies will most likely not buy from US either, so it's just a few state contracts.

There's plenty China could want from US. Even if many of their systems are individually less useful, it still provides valuable intel and pads the numbers. Like, F16s may not be J10s but at least they can do a better job than J8s, and they can teach an entire generation of pilots how to fight those planes. If F16s or F15s are on the table, they would really want them. Just like Su35 were bought to counter India and increasing export Flanker proliferation.

If US wants to fix the deficit, they gotta put stuff China actually has demand for on the table. Or let the deficit remain unfixed until they start designing more useful stuff that isn't weapons.

They won't sell F16s to China, China probably already has all the intel it needs on F16s from other countries that own F16s, and you better believe those F16s will be rigged to collect intel for the U.S. Talk about back doors. You seem to have a knack for unworkable proposals. Regardless, China seems to mostly just want to order passenger jets, soy beans, and semiconductors. And it's better to keep it that way.

CMP said:

That's painfully naive coming from a board director.

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Well, it would be naive if it were taken at face value. This statement is in an open letter because it's not really meant for the recipient to which it is addressed. It's meant for the whole world to see that Huawei is open, welcoming and generous, but most of all, it has nothing to hide. In contrast, Americans have been driven by the fear of being overtaken to be petty and closed.

CMP said:

If strategic national decision making were left to these people, they'd see no need for a strategic oil reserve, strategic food reserve, strategic nuclear arms, etc. It's just a waste of money to buy something and let it sit around, so let's not buy it. Oh they'd never starve us of fuel or food, who would commit such an atrocity? Answer: Only every great power in history. We need look no further than the 20th and 21st century to see the victims of such strategies: North Korea, Iran, Japan, Yemen, Vietnam, USSR, Germany, UK, Venezuela, the list goes on.

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The primary focus since beginning of 2019 is primary on rural development.

China maybe hedging toward the decoupling, move migrant workers out of the cities and have them stay at rural area and concentrate on rural urbanziation and development.

This way it won't cause excessive upheaval in the cities when manufacturing jobs are decreasing greatly.

If they implement the great Tibet Water to xin-jiang it could move tens of millions excessive folks out of eastern China. This will take alot of pressure out.

Two pronged approach, concentrate on high tech and rural development. .

CMP said:

They won't sell F16s to China, China probably already has all the intel it needs on F16s from other countries that own F16s, and you better believe those F16s will be rigged to collect intel for the U.S. Talk about back doors. You seem to have a knack for unworkable proposals. Regardless, China seems to mostly just want to order passenger jets, soy beans, and semiconductors. And it's better to keep it that way.

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What you don’t get is that US wants to work out a way to eliminate ALL trade deficit or at least a large part of them.

US needs food export and passenger planes to even get the current trade balance, which is highly stacked up against them. Consumers in China are already buying everything they need from America, there’s zero demand for more.

Of course, the onus is on the US to come claim it’s export money. If they don’t want it, they don’t have to take it.

Biscuits said:

What you don’t get is that US wants to work out a way to eliminate ALL trade deficit or at least a large part of them.

US needs food export and passenger planes to even get the current trade balance, which is highly stacked up against them. Consumers in China are already buying everything they need from America, there’s zero demand for more.

Of course, the onus is on the US to come claim it’s export money. If they don’t want it, they don’t have to take it.

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If the US does go along this route, then China needs to properly analyze capital flows to ensure they aren't short-changed in that transaction.

Like I said here before, I see signs of malinvestments similar to what happened with Japan in the late 1980s like attempts to purchase media companies in the US. Or purchasing expensive land in the US. I think Tencent is rumored to want to acquire Universal Music Group for example. It is a waste of money. China shouldn't bother with things like that. Whenever there is an economic downturn entertainment is always the first thing to collapse. If people need to cut on expenses what do you think is the first thing they'll consider? Right now the economy is at the height of a bubble. i.e. it's the worst possible time to do acquisitions of media companies.

Presently investors in China don't know where to put their money. I think the Chinese government would be advised to sell bonds to Chinese citizens. The bonds could fund, for example, major public works. These would be later paid back to the bond holders with a small amount of interest. This could be used to increase the amount of public transport, build sewage and water treatment facilities, or other infrastructure works.

CMP said:

Choice quotes from Lighthizer about the trade war/deal with China:

"We have to be number one. We just have to stay number one. And by the way most people in the world want us to be number one." -Lighthizer

Skip to 2:21:00 to see the quote.

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This prof the trade war was just an excuse. All the talks about China doing all the unfair stuff. Like stealing IP. forced sharing of tech. Money munipilatuon. Etc. Are all BS and just excuses!
The real reasons are there coming straight from that neo-con Lighthizer mouth, and agreed by the committee led by the democrats. So its cross party US official foreign policy. You can't get clearer than that.
It is not China doing things differently or wrongly. But it is the US steadfastly refusing to accept it's place in the world as number ..... 2!
King canute anyone!?