Mr. Xi may play the long game of ping pong, but when it comes to checkers, no so great. He has met an equal in President Trump. Hong Kong citizen protest has ignited a bomb in Beijing. This has created an opportunity for Trump. Xi is in a tough spot because America holds the chips. An excise tax on Chinese goods or even a prohibition of them entering the U.S.A. will cause the Chinese economy to implode. The current situation is unbearable for Xi. He has nowhere to turn. Clamp down and you will feel American pressure, don’t clamp down and the protest in Hong Kong will spread like wild fire to the mainland.

Beijing’s threats over bill supporting Hong Kong ’laughable,’ China expert says. Gordon Chang, the author of “The Coming Collapse of China,” said Thursday that Beijing’s threats of taking “countermeasures” over the U.S. law backing the protests in Hong Kong are “laughable” and that the nation is in no position to “anger its best customer” as its economy slumps.

Remember the International Court ruling which “Rejects China’s Claims To South China Sea?”

The Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague, comprised of a panel of five experts in maritime law, ruled Tuesday that there was no legal basis to China’s claim to sovereignty over much of the South China Sea.  

“Although Chinese navigators and fishermen, as well as those of other states, had historically made use of the islands in the South China Sea, there was no evidence that China had historically exercised exclusive control over the waters or their resources,” the Court said. It concluded that “there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights to resources within the sea areas falling within the ‘nine-dash line’.”

It also found that none of China’s claimed Spratly Islands in South China Sea can generate maritime zones and declared that large areas of the Sea to be neutral international waters.

Trump is the only head of state that has contested Chinese hegemony. Others have withered away, afraid of pissing China off. China play is simple, complete interior projects, thereby ingratiating yourself with most countries autocratic rulers. “Buy them” and own them is their creed. The world’s democratic countries know they are on the take and therefore most are now becoming reluctant to deal with them.