In the latest not too subtle threat lobbed by China's official press aimed at Donald Trump, the mainland media warned the President-elect that he’ll be met with "big sticks" if he tries to ignite a trade war or further strain ties.
"There are flowers around the gate of China’s Ministry of Commerce, but there are also big sticks hidden inside the door -- they both await Americans," the Communist Party’s Global Times newspaper wrote in an editorial Thursday in response to Trump’s plans to nominate lawyer Robert Lighthizer, who has criticized Beijing’s trade practices, as U.S. trade representative.
The latest lashing out at Trump from a state-run outlet, noticed first by Bloomberg, followed others last month aimed at Peter Navarro, a University of California at Irvine economics professor and critic of China’s trade practices whom Trump last month named to head a newly formed White House National Trade Council. Those picks plus billionaire Wilbur Ross, the nominee for commerce secretary, will form an "iron curtain" of protectionism in Trump’s economic and trade team, the paper wrote.
The three share Trump’s strong anti-globalization beliefs and seem unlikely to keep building the current trade order, it said, adding that they will be more interested in disrupting the world trade order.
Concurrently, SCMP reported that China’s state media have lambasted US president-elect Donald Trump for commenting on and conducting foreign policy on Twitter. The state-run news agency Xinhua ran a signed commentary headlined “Addiction to Twitter diplomacy is unwise” late on Tuesday night.
The article came after Trump fired another salvo at China through Twitter on Tuesday, accusing Beijing of refusing to help contain North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.
Trump first questioned in a tweet North Korea’s claims that it was in the final stages of testing a ballistic missile capable of reaching American soil. He later tweeted: “China has been taking out massive amounts of money & wealth from the US in totally one-sided trade, but won’t help with North Korea. Nice!”
The Xinhua commentary said Trump’s use of Twitter had aroused widespread concern among US politicians and academics.
For now China appears to have fallen off Trump's radar, and instead over the past few days the president-elect has been focusing on the ongoing Russian hacking fiasco as well as slamming "head clown" Chuck Schumer for the mess that is Obamacare.