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Trump offers to mediate on South China Sea

webfact

By webfact
in World News

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webfact Grand Master Member

webfact

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Trump offers to mediate on South China Sea

By Steve Holland and Mai Nguyen

 

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U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday he was prepared to mediate between claimants to the South China Sea, where five countries contest China's sweeping claims to the busy waterway.

 

HANOI (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday he was prepared to mediate between claimants to the South China Sea, where five countries contest China's sweeping claims to the busy waterway.

 

Trump was speaking in Vietnam, which has become the most vocal opponent of China's claims and its construction and militarisation of artificial islands in the sea. About $3-trillion in goods passes through the sea each year.

 

"If I can help mediate or arbitrate, please let me know," Trump said in comments at a meeting in Hanoi with Vietnam's president, Tran Dai Quang.

 

Trump acknowledged that China's position on the South China Sea was a problem.

 

"I'm a very good mediator and arbitrator," he said.

 

President Quang said Vietnam believed in handling disputes on the South China Sea through peaceful negotiations and on the basis of international laws - which Vietnam says nullify China's claims.

 

Vietnam has reclaimed land around reefs and islets, but on nowhere near the same scale as China. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan also have claims in the sea.

 

Since Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has grown closer to China, Vietnam has emerged as China's main challenger in the region. In July, China pressured Vietnam to stop oil drilling in a disputed area, taking relations to a low.

 

Relations have since improved and Chinese President Xi Jinping is visiting Hanoi later on Sunday.

 

The South China Sea was discussed in Beijing on an earlier leg of Trump's 12-day Asian tour and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the United States and China had a frank exchange of views.

 

The United States has angered China with freedom of navigation patrols close to Chinese-controlled islands.

 

CODE OF CONDUCT

 

From Vietnam, Trump left for the Philippines - the last stop on his tour - for a meeting with leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

 

In August, the foreign ministers of the Southeast Asian countries and China adopted a negotiating framework for a code of conduct in the South China Sea, although critics see it as a tactic to buy China time to consolidate its power.

 

The framework seeks to advance a 2002 Declaration of Conduct (DOC) of Parties in the South China Sea, which has mostly been ignored by claimant states, particularly China, which has built seven man-made islands in disputed waters, three of them equipped with runways, surface-to-air missiles and radars.

 

All parties say the framework is only an outline for how the code will be established and critics raise doubts about how effective the pact will be.

 

The framework will be endorsed by China and ASEAN members at a summit in Manila on Monday, a diplomat from one of the regional bloc's countries said.

 

The next step is for ASEAN and China to start formal consultations and negotiations for the actual Code of Conduct, and the earliest that talks on this can start is February 2018, the diplomat said.

 

Relations between Vietnam and the United States have blossomed in the decades since their war ended in 1975. A recent survey put the favourability of the United States at 84 percent among Vietnamese.

 

But Vietnam's trade surplus remains an irritant for the Trump administration. At $32 billion last year, it was the sixth largest with the United States, though less than a tenth the size of China's.

 

"We want to get that straightened out very quickly," Trump said at a meeting with Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

 

Vietnamese and U.S. companies signed memorandums of understanding on gas development and automobiles as well as aircraft engine purchase and support during Trump's visit. The value of the deals was unclear.

 

(Writing by Matthew Tostevin; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

 
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-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-11-13
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darksidedog Silver Member

darksidedog

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23 minutes ago, webfact said:

"I'm a very good mediator and arbitrator," he said.

As can be seen by the track record of his Republican controlled Governments long list of successfully introduced new legislation thus far. :cheesy:

Edited by darksidedog
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Morch Star Member

Morch

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7 hours ago, Rancid said:

No one would argue against a mediated solution, however I have my doubts as whether the US would be seen as fair and impartial. Nor anyone else with a vested interest in the outcome.

 

No one would argue against a mediated solution

 

Does your view reflect the PRC's?

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observer90210 Gold Member

observer90210

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If the geopolitical situation out there is really of concern, they should make the same smart move the americans made in the past with Iran and Cuba.

 

Use a neutral country as a mediator.

 

Switzerland did a fine but discreet job in the contexts of Iran and Cuba on representing american interests in those regions.

 

It was a great american legend and a brillant statesman, a certain John F. Kennedy who sanctioned the idea with Cuba and the US followed in the Iran crisis.

 

Edited by observer90210
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Srikcir Ruby Member

Srikcir

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23 hours ago, webfact said:

"If I can help mediate or arbitrate, please let me know,"

“It was completely lacking in any sense of how, what the path forward is, what it is about,” Danin [ a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a former senior State Department official] said, referring to Trump’s plan for negotiating with the two parties. “It almost assumed it’s just about the Israelis and the Palestinians working it out and doing the ultimate deal.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/05/03/trump-welcomes-palestinian-leader-abbas-to-white-house/?utm_term=.e13e907a2ff6

Sounds like Trump's approach to the China Sea issues. All the involved nations work it outon their own (which China has promoted with nation-by nation deals) and Trump will claim success as the mediator.  That's the Art of the Steal.

 

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boomerangutang Platinum Member

boomerangutang

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How many Trump Towers are built or planned for China?

Also, Trump has many other money ties with China. When he was prez-elect, he had a team active in China whose sole purpose was securing Chinese copyrights for many enterprises which may, in the future, use the Trump name.

 

There's an equation:  The more money connection Trump has with a country, the more Trump wants to cozy up with that country.  Here's the proof:  Trump has many money entwinements with Russians/Putin, and that's why Trump can never say a disparaging word about Putin.  Similar in Turkey and Saudi Arabia, but on a smaller scale.  

 

As for SC Sea:  Because Trump has less money connections with Phils and VN, than he does with China, Trump will naturally side with China re; any 'negotiations' re; those countries. 

 

In sum, Trump is a shit sandwich at negotiating.  Look at how well he negotiated Mexico paying for the border wall. Mexicans aren't even showing up to discuss the issue.  They're giving Trump the finger.

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Jingthing Legendary Member

Jingthing

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5 minutes ago, mrwebb8825 said:

Many on here remind me of a democratic, Trump-hating version of the KKK. No matter what anyone else has to say, if it's not inline with your beliefs then it must be wrong and draws swift attacks with name calling and condemnations. :saai:

Your post is funny.

It's like you're admitting that trumpism and the KKK are related.

Well, that is true. They are.

His entire movement was started with racism, came to power with racism, and whatever power it still has, propped up by racism. 

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mrwebb8825 Gold Member

mrwebb8825

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8 hours ago, boomerangutang said:

There's an equation:  The more money connection Trump has with a country, the more Trump wants to cozy up with that country.  Here's the proof:  Trump has many money entwinements with Russians/Putin, and that's why Trump can never say a disparaging word about Putin.  Similar in Turkey and Saudi Arabia, but on a smaller scale.

You, of course have documented proof of this. :coffee1:

8 hours ago, boomerangutang said:

As for SC Sea:  Because Trump has less money connections with Phils and VN, than he does with China, Trump will naturally side with China re; any 'negotiations' re; those countries.

I was completely unaware of your physic abilities or that you had a personal wiretap in President Trumps pocket. :whistling:

8 hours ago, boomerangutang said:

In sum, Trump is a shit sandwich at negotiating.  Look at how well he negotiated Mexico paying for the border wall. Mexicans aren't even showing up to discuss the issue.  They're giving Trump the finger.

Seems you missed the story where the test walls were up and being wholeheartedly supported. Also, it seems that I missed the news story where President Trump said; "I'm sorry base, we'll get a wall but you'll have to pay for it".

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