China issues demands … again

Remember when they issued a 14-point list of demands [WebArchive] to Australia few years ago? Didn’t work so well for China, as they only unsettled the EU which put an investment treaty on hold. Other countries in Southeast Asia were rattled as well, leading some to hew more closely to the U.S..

Note Wang Yi talking of the “predicament” from the “previous administration”. Now if the point of the Trump-time tariffs and sanctions was exactly to create a “predicament” for a country you believe has stolen US jobs and intellectual property, then “predicaments” are what you want to continue. If that’s what you believe. Of course one could take Wang’s view; of China as a peaceful, fair and balanced member of the international, the Asian, community.

Note “China’s four demands” in the red box. (1) Remedial  action for the US to take. (2) A list of Beijing’s key concerns. (3) US legislation it wants changing and (4) Eight areas of cooperation. 

It’s like China has learned from entitled millennials…

I’d sure like to see them. Not yet released or leaked. How long, I wonder. 

Re “US legislation it wants changed”. Whatever happened to China’s “principle of non-interference in the affairs of other countries”?