This article originally appeared at Anti-Media.
Beijing — Hours ahead of Rex Tillerson’s first visit to Beijing as secretary of state, China’s premier said Wednesday that the Asian superpower doesn’t want a trade war with the United States, but that if one were to break out, U.S. companies would be the biggest losers.
“Recently I came across an article from an authoritative international think tank,” Li Keqiang said at a news conference in Beijing. “It says that should a trade war break out between China and the United States, it would be foreign-invested companies, in particular U.S. firms, that would bear the brunt of it.”
As Anti-Media has been reporting, the financial world has been waiting to see how the battle of wills between China and newly-elected President Donald Trump will play out. Trump’s “America First” rhetoric stands in opposition the “One China” policy that the Asian nation requires trading partners to recognize.
The subsequent back-and-forth through comments in the media has those invested in global financial markets worried of a trade war and currency manipulation. On Wednesday, China’s premier pointed out that all the squabbling isn’t good for anyone.
“We don’t want to see any trade war breaking out between our two countries,” Li said. “That wouldn’t make our trade fairer.”
This is all fine and good, but the premier was also certain to note that the “One China” policy must still be the guiding principle behind good U.S.-Chinese trade relations:
“With that foundation in place, we believe there are bright prospects for China-U.S. cooperation.”
And while locking down a good economic relationship with China is high on the list of things to accomplish on Tillerson’s first trip to Beijing, the Washington Post suggested Wednesday that the man’s top priority is North Korea.
“While relations with China will be discussed during Tillerson’s visit,” writes the Post, “the top of the agenda for the new secretary of state is expected to be North Korea’s nuclear program.”
The narrative is that the North Koreans are so out of control that the U.S. must step in and do some policing because China has failed to act.
Take, for instance, how the New York Times opened its coverage of Tillerson’s visit to Beijing on Wednesday:
“Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will warn China’s leaders that the United States is prepared to step up missile defenses and pressure on Chinese financial institutions if they fail to use their influence to restrain North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs, according to several officials involved in planning his first mission to Asia.”
It’s all about the nukes, the corporate media would have you believe.
And whether you choose to believe the narrative or not, the cold hard facts are that the largest Chinese naval fleet since World War II is readying to steam down the hotly-contested South China Sea, and that the United States military just deployed units of its most elite soldiers — including Navy SEALS, Delta Force, and Army Rangers — to South Korea for “training.”
Now, perhaps more than ever, is a time for vigilance when analyzing the content coming down from the corporate media.
