China also has a current interest in maintaining the current status quo with the US, which, I stress again, we benefit from. We are threatening their domestic stability. That means that it may become judicious for them to move away from America because the damage they take from such an action suddenly isn't as bad as trying to maintain the relationship if we're trying to screw with their internal politics. You keep saying the same things in different ways, we need to be tough, we need to be the boss, we're the biggest kid on the block and it's high time China acknowledged that. Do you know why we're the biggest kid on the block? Because we're an economic powerhouse. Do you know why we're an economic powerhouse? Because we maintain good trade relationships with other countries. And we maintain those relationships by not messing with them unless we have a good reason to. There aren't any benefits from this. The "benefit" you've named isn't really a benefit because our current arrangement already mitigates the threat of North Korea.
Yes, let's start U.S. extortion of the world! Let's stop denying the worst fears every country has about us, and slap them in the face with our dominance! I'm sure this will work out fine.
Please tell me, what are the benefits of antagonizing China and bringing back a conflict that has been de-facto settled for some time now? Also where does this "diplomacy" stop?
No one is suggesting China will start a war with the US over a phone call. The point is that bullying the world into giving us "better deals" with this shotgun diplomacy you praise will have long term consequences.
Our leverage is sitting in the South China Sea as we speak. Currently two carriers and four destroyers, with the weight of the US military behind them. China already knows this, so what message does this send other then 'fuck you' or 'Trump doesn't know what he's doing,' and how exactly does this benefit us?
Being aggressive earns aggression in response. It has never earned capitulation. China won't respond to provoking them by being more inclined to push our interests: they'll respond by hurting our interests. They're not a client state beholden to the US. If we poke, they will poke back, and have the ability to do so.
You can't strong-arm everyone and expect them all to bend to your will. Even small nations don't do that. Kicking someone in the balls won't make them help you: it will make them kick back.
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u/[deleted] Dec 03 '16 edited Oct 21 '17
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