The Trump administration's policy regarding the South China Sea is a continuation of the Obama administration's policy but with more emphasis on the military dimension.
Geography and geopolitics will determine the course of any U.S.-China war. China is at a disadvantage on both counts.
The need for constant adjustment to Trump's policy flip-flops will only stoke greater anxiety among America's allies and partners, who now run the risk that their core interests will be used as bargaining chips.
U.S. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping established a positive working relationship, but their first meeting was short on concrete deliverables.
The summit at Mar-a-Lago showed that even a president as reckless as Trump knows that the U.S. cannot afford to antagonize the Chinese.
Imagine being guest of honor at a state dinner planned to trumpet bilateral ties only to have your host lean over and whisper, "We're bombing Syria tonight."
U.S. President Donald Trump needs to become something he's never been when he meets Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week — a knowledgable statesman.
In contrast to his tough campaign talk, there is little sign that Trump's China approach thus far is different to that of his predecessor, Barack Obama, on whose watch Beijing initiated coercive actions with impunity in the South and East China seas.
The buzzword for China's leaders in 2017 is stability. The current trajectory puts them on track to achieve it.
A new Plaza Accord can benefit both the U.S. and China, and deliver Trump his first foreign policy victory.
So far, the Trump administration has shown that it is all bark and no bite when it comes to China.
Analysts trying to parse U.S. policy in the Trump era regarding the South China Sea must be prepared for stark contradictions and intellectual whiplash.
