Trump didn't wait for a visit from China and sent a warship to sail through the Taiwan Strait to provoke. Why did the US Defense Secretary exclaim that the situation was not good?

On this Wednesday, the US Navy dispatched the USS Lawrence destroyer to sail through the waters of the Taiwan Strait, named as "freedom of navigation," but in fact, "causing trouble."

US Navy ship

The reason for America's performance of such a "performance art" is none other than two points:

Firstly, recently, Trump clearly couldn't hold on regarding the tariff issue and wanted to make peace.

Evidence shows that, over the past week, both he and his personally appointed Treasury Secretary Betsen have repeatedly sent messages, saying they want to communicate with China and that the US and China should reach a new agreement on tariff issues.

However, what troubled Trump was that no matter how many times the US spoke out, China remained steadfast.

China's attitude was clear: it would strictly adhere to one bottom line - that is, before Trump takes the initiative to act with sincerity and eliminate tariffs on China, China would ignore any performance by the US and certainly wouldn't meet Trump's wishes by actively seeking peace.

This firm stance made the US side restless. Therefore, he came up with an absurd scheme to send warships to show presence near China's doorstep, hoping to hype up the Taiwan issue to push forward US-China tariff negotiations.

US President Trump

Secondly, the US has not been making appearances in the Pacific for too long.

In order to exert "maximum pressure" on Iran, Trump moved the two carrier strike groups led by the "Carl Vinson" and "Theodore Roosevelt" to the Red Sea. The "Washington" at Yokosuka and the "America" at Sasebo were both idle in port.

On April 21st, the 50-year-old veteran aircraft carrier "Nimitz" sailed out of Guam to "carry the burden" for the US's Western Pacific hegemony.

In the face of such circumstances, even China wouldn't give the US a ladder, let alone Japan, the most "loyal" ally of the US in the Western Pacific, which has started to stir lately, singing counterpoint with the US on tariff issues while secretly selling US bonds.

In this situation, it's not surprising that the US jumps out to heat up the Taiwan issue to remind the world that it still has aircraft carriers available in the Western Pacific.

However, this time, Trump is destined to miscalculate.

US Navy's USS Nimitz aircraft carrier docked in Guam

To put it bluntly, for today's China, a destroyer sailing through the Taiwan Strait doesn't count as much of a "threat"; it's more like a joke. But regardless of whether there is a "threat," the high-profile passage of the US warship to provoke the Taiwan Strait is quite malicious in nature.

Especially the extreme sensitivity of the Taiwan issue constantly reminds the US side not to play with fire on this issue. The US itself is well aware of this.

Hagseith, the defense secretary personally appointed by Trump, exclaimed that the situation was not good, saying that China's hypersonic missiles theoretically "could destroy all of the US's current aircraft carriers within 20 minutes."

As the top military official of the US, Hagseith's intention in saying this was obviously to hype up the so-called "Chinese threat" to create excuses for upgrading military equipment and expanding military spending.

We completely don't fall for this. Regarding the hype by the US Defense Secretary, Colonel Zhang Xiaogang, the spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense, directly stated that we have a clear understanding of our own development and advise the US not to have a "persecution complex" and always use others as an excuse.

Colonel Zhang Xiaogang, spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense of China

To put it bluntly, the US's "flattery and intimidation" is ineffective for us. Now, Trump can't handle Russia, can't handle Iran, and now even has the audacious idea that he can "show muscle" in front of China, which is somewhat presumptuous.

High-level communication between China and the US is not impossible, but the US trying to force China to back down through these "tricks" is absolutely impossible. Nowadays, the US has lost the ability to swagger in front of China, and the higher Trump jumps, the bigger the loss will be.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7497149926770721295/

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