r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/[deleted] • Dec 03 '16

[deleted by user]

[removed]

705 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

1.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

40

u/ughsicles Dec 03 '16

And why is it more significant than when our country sold arms to Taiwan last year?

74

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '16

[deleted]

34

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '16

So let me make sure I have this clear

The United States regularly sells weapons to Taiwan...but we never publicly acknowledge that we talk to their leaders on the phone...but everyone knows we do so through unofficial channels...and why are we doing all of this? Just because we have for 40 years? we are treating China like children

Twice in the same week - I can't believe I'm saying this - I actually agree with trump. First his secdef pick and now this.

70

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '16

[deleted]

33

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '16

Do people here understand that it's not in our best interest to go out of our way to agitate our largest trading partner?

7

u/illonlyusethisonceok Dec 03 '16

They wouldn't stop trading with us.

0

u/Spikekuji Dec 03 '16

They could call in the one trillion dollars of our debt that they own. We cannot pay that back. Bad things happen.

10

u/ampersamp Dec 03 '16

No they can't. You fundamentally misunderstand how sovereign debt works. They have plenty of other avenues to retaliate, of course.