‘Strategic Stability’ requires Chinese accountability

Excerpt

President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping left their Beijing summit speaking the same language. The official White House readout issued Sunday mirrored Xi’s own remarks just days before, calling for a “constructive” relationship of “strategic stability.”

But Trump shouldn’t mistake Beijing’s rhetoric for restraint. When it comes to China, there can be no stability without accountability.

Trump suggested he may soon decide whether to unwind sanctions on Chinese firms dealing in Iranian oil. He shouldn’t. Chinese financial institutions that facilitate Iranian sanctions evasion are more exposed to U.S. economic statecraft now than at any other time in recent memory.

Max Meizlish is a research fellow in the Center on Economic and Financial Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.