Blog Assignment #3

In the article Trump needs China on North Korea but he's doing it wrong, written by Max Baucus and Ryan Hass, they state that the tensions between the U.S. and North Korea are very dangerous and should be addressed strategically in as a diplomatic, peaceful method as possible. After trump tweeted “I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man…” at the UN meeting, it added further complications to come to a negotiation with North Korea and China by showing that Washington isn’t in lockstep with its partners to stop this conflict. This article is intended for Congress, and the Trump Administration, to come up with a strategy on how to deal with issue. The authors of this article are certainly wealthy, educated people who have experience with creating diplomatic strategies for foreign relations. Max Baucus served as U.S. Ambassador to China from 2014-2017, along with 36 years as a U.S. Senator from Montana, and Ryan Hass served as National Security Council Director for China from 2013-2017. Both of these authors certainly have valuable experience when it comes to relations with China.

    Both of the authors emphasized the relationship between the U.S. and China, and that it must be tended. Right now we are in a deep hole thanks to Trump’s threats of destroying North Korea or cutting off trade with China. The authors explain that our reasons and actions don’t match considering of what the president has said and our intentions of resolving this conflict. It makes China believe that the U.S. is only interested in this to strengthen our military hold in Asia by increasing military size in South Korea and installing missile defense systems. All of this is making Beijing feel skeptical if we truly want to resolve this conflict, and if we are only in this to become more of a superior superpower compared to other countries.

    In order to develop a more trustworthy relationship with China, the U.S. needs to align their interests with our own, and we need to convince them that we respect the country's security protocols regarding the Korean countries. If we can show that we hold their interests in the highest regard, it will develop a fundamentally strong relationship with China, and we will be able to resolve any other issues that may arise in the future if this nuclear threat from North Korea is properly resolved. The authors also reassures the readers that as long as the military size in North Korea decrease, so will the size of the military in South Korea. This action will provide more security to China and develop more trust with the U.S.

    Overall, the authors of this article did an excellent job of informing the audience of strategies that can work, and provide some hope that nuclear war can be avoided as long as we take the correct steps. Once our relationship with China is tended correctly, we can prove to Pyongyang that the U.S. has a strong relationship with China and is very serious for avoiding war, and that we will have strong ambitions for keeping the peace within Asia.