World

Outraged China Responds To Trump’s Twitter Attacks

REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Ryan Pickrell China/Asia Pacific Reporter
Font Size:

China is absolutely livid over President-elect Donald Trump’s brutal Twitter comments on China’s monetary, trade, and military practices.

Trump slammed China Sunday evening for manipulating its currency, engaging in unfair trade practices, and militarizing the South China Sea.

While the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs refused to be drawn into Trump’s Twitter war, stated-sponsored newspapers blasted Trump for his comments.

Trump “threw a tantrum against China Sunday night,” wrote The Global Times, claiming he is stirring “up troubles against China before he is sworn in.”

“It appears inevitable that Sino-US ties will witness more troubles in his early time in the White House than any other predecessor.”

“Trump can make a lot of noise but that does not exempt him from the rules of the major power game. He doesn’t have sufficient resources to deal with China wantonly, the second largest economy, the biggest trading country and a nuclear power,” the paper continued.

“Trump’s reckless remarks against a major power show his lack of experience in diplomacy. He may have overestimated the power of the US.”

“China must be determined to upset his unreasonable requests at his early time in office, and fight back if his moves harm China’s interests, regardless of the consequences to the dynamics of the Sino-US relationship,” The Global Times further noted, “We must confront Trump’s provocations head-on.”

China has been the target of many of Trump’s verbal assaults prior to and after his election.

Trump has repeatedly criticized China’s currency management and trading practices, promising to label China a currency manipulator and slap high tariffs on Chinese goods early in his administration.

He has said multiple times that China is “raping” the U.S. through its questionable economic and trade policies.

The recent tweets are the first time Trump has mentioned the South China Sea since he was elected.

“We made them – we have rebuilt China yet they will go into the South China Sea and build military fortresses the likes of which the world has not seen,” Trump told the New York Times in March, “They do that at will because they have no respect for our president and they have no respect for our country.”

Trump’s attitude and comments are disconcerting to the Chinese.

“Trump’s irrational China bashing shows his ignorance of China,” the People’s Daily wrote in response to Trump’s comments on Twitter.

Many Chinese netizens have also furiously criticized Trump’s statements.

“Why should China ask you if its OK? Did the U.S. ask China if it was OK to deploy THAAD to South Korea and sell weapons to Taiwan?” one Chinese netizen asked.

The president elect’s Twitter rant comes in the wake of his historic phone conversation with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen Friday and appears to be in response to critics who argue that he should avoid angering China.

The phone call was the first time a president or president elect has spoken with a Taiwanese president since diplomatic relations were severed in 1979.

The break in several decades of diplomatic practice and protocol infuriated China, which called the phone call a “petty action.”

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Geng Shuang urged Trump to “cautiously and properly handle Taiwan-related issues to avoid any unnecessary disturbance.”

The Global Times, a Chinese state-run tabloid, said that Trump was tricked by Taiwan.

“The fact is Taiwan made a petty gesture before Trump is sworn in, and Trump responded to it,” the tabloid asserted. “They know the only thing that can be done to the One-China policy is some marginalized tricks to serve their short-term interests.”

Others suggested the call showed a lack of experience with and understanding of foreign policy.

The call “exposed nothing but his and his transition team’s inexperience in dealing with foreign affairs,” the China Daily said. He made the “unusual action due to lack of proper understanding of Sino-US relations and cross-Straits ties.”

“He has zero diplomatic experience and is unaware of the repercussions of shaking up Sino-US relations,” The Global Times said.

The assertion that Trump lacks experience was reiterated by Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lu Kang during a press conference Monday, where he said that China has made its position clear to Trump.

“The whole world knows about the Chinese government’s position on the Taiwan issue. I think President-elect Trump and his team are also clear,” Lu said, “The Chinese side in Beijing and Washington lodged solemn representations with the relevant side in the U.S. The world is very clear on China’s solemn position. The U.S. side, including President-elect Trump’s team, is very clear about China’s solemn position on this issue.”

The South China Sea and Taiwan are both Chinese “core interests,” and China’s currency is a sensitive issue.

Trump’s rhetoric and actions suggest that he will approach these controversial issues in a manner very different from that of his predecessor.

Many Trump supporters welcome the shift and the possibility of stronger leadership, arguing that Beijing should not be allowed to dictate the way the U.S. conducts its foreign policy and encouraging the president elect to take a tougher stance on China.

Trump has taken a hard-line stance on China. China stands accused of manipulating its currency, engaging in unfair trading practices, stealing American jobs, hacking U.S. systems and stealing defense technology and corporate intellectual property, militarizing the South China Sea and East China Sea, undercutting sanctions designed to reign in a nuclear North Korea, and generally pursuing its interests at the expense of the interests of the U.S. and its allies and partners.

Critics, however, believe that Trump’s actions could lead to conflict.

Follow Ryan on Twitter

Send tips to ryan@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel