Xinhua, China’s state news media outlet, is striking back at President-elect Trump for his Twitter barbs against Beijing.
In an editorial, the publication said Trump should knock off his broadsides against the Chinese government and that social media isn’t the place to conduct diplomacy.
„Everyone recognizes the common sense that foreign policy isn’t child’s play, and even less is it like doing business deals,“ Xinhua said, according to a translation by the New York Times‘ bureau in Beijing.
The publication added that „Twitter shouldn’t become an instrument of foreign policy. “
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Xinhua’s commentary came after Trump once again lashed out at China using Twitter.
„China has been taking out massive amounts of money & wealth from the U. S. in totally one-sided trade, but won’t help with North Korea,“ Trump said in a tweet Monday evening. „Nice! “
Throughout his campaign, Trump took a hard line against China on international trade and after his victory, he broke longstanding protocol and took a phone call from the leader of Taiwan, which is seeking independence from China.
Pence and Trump aides met with the House Republican Conference about repealing and replacing Obamacare.

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North Korea continues to pursue nuclear and ballistic missile technologies but the United States does not believe it is in a position to “tip” one of them with a nuclear warhead, State Department spokesman John Kirby said on Tuesday. North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, said on Sunday , raising the prospect of putting parts of the United States within range. “We do not believe that at this point in time he has the capability to tip one of these with a nuclear warhead … but we do know that he continues to want to have those capabilities and the programmes continue to march in that direction,” Kirby told reporters. Asked whether he would agree with president-elect Donald Trump’s assessment that China was not helping to contain North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, Kirby said: “We would not agree with that assessment.” Trump, who will take office on January 20, that North Korea would not be allowed to complete a nuclear weapon capable of reaching the United States, although he did not say how he would stop it. “It won’t happen!” he said on Twitter. Trump’s transition spokesman, Sean Spicer, said the tweet spoke for itself but added that it meant, “Under his watch he’s going to make sure that that doesn’t happen.” Pyongyang’s action will be discussed at a meeting in Washington on Thursday between the United States, Japan and South Korea, led by Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Kirby said. “No question that tensions on the Korean peninsula will be a topic of discussion [but] where that is going to take us, especially in light of Kim Jong-un’s speech, I don’t know,” Kirby said. Asked about the possibility of more sanctions against Pyongyang, he added: “We haven’t ruled out the possibility of additional sanctions.”

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Sungtae (Jacky) Park is research associate at the Council on Foreign Relations.
On January 2, President-elect Donald Trump tweeted that a nuclear North Korea capable of hitting parts of the United States “ won’t happen .” Yet, North Korea has been advancing its nuclear and missile capabilities at an alarming pace, and he will not be the first president to face the North Korean threat. George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama all attempted but failed to address the issue. Trump cannot continue the current path and expect different results. But, before looking for a different path, the new administration first should ask a number of hard questions that might better shed light on the nature of the problem and the decisions that could or should be made.
Read in The Diplomat about the four hard questions that should be asked…

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China has hit back at Donald Trump’s claim that Beijing isn’t doing enough to rein in rogue state North Korea, cautioning the U. S. President-elect not to “escalate” an already tense situation on the Korean Peninsula through his liberal use of social media.
On Monday evening, Trump took to Twitter to deny North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s claim that his nation was in the “final stage” of developing a nuclear-armed ballistic missile capable of hitting the U. S. mainland. Trump then followed up with another tweet to say China wasn’t doing enough to temper the young despot’s belligerence.
“China has been taking out massive amounts of money & wealth from the U. S. in totally one-sided trade, but won’t help with North Korea. Nice!” read the tweet.
In response, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a press briefing on Tuesday that his government’s efforts were “widely recognized,” and that “we hope all sides will avoid remarks and actions to escalate the situation.”
The Korean Peninsula is the latest source of friction between the incoming Trump Administration and China to be aired via the President-elect’s Twitter account.
Last month, Trump revealed he accepted a congratulatory phone call from Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen in a breach of almost four decades of diplomatic protocol. Beijing still claims sovereignty over the self-governing island despite its effective split from the mainland in 1949 following China’s civil war.
Trump has also frequently used Twitter to accuse China of underhand trade practices like currency manipulation that he claims have forced American jobs oversees. The real estate mogul has nominated at least two hard-line China trade critics — Robert Lighthizer and Peter Navarro — to top posts in his Administration.
Regarding North Korea, Trump has a point: China is Pyongyang’s only friendly nation of note and accounts for 90% of its trade. The continued existence of North Korea is of strategic advantage to Beijing if the alternative is a unified Korean Peninsula administered by Seoul that is a staunch U. S. ally.
However, a belligerent, nuclear-armed North Korea isn’t in Beijing’s interests. This raises the temperature in East Asia and prompted South Korea to accept deployment of American THAAD antimissile batteries. Japan may soon follow.
“China’s relations with North Korea are complex and difficult,” writes Evans J. R. Revere in a report for the Brookings Institution in October. “But Beijing’s bottom line is that it is better to keep a troublesome North Korean ally afloat than to risk what might result if we push Pyongyang too hard.”
Nevertheless, in a bid to temper Kim’s aggression Beijing signed up to unprecedented U. N. sanctions in March following Pyongyang’s fourth nuclear test. North Korean exports of coal and minerals have dropped as a result, though a fifth nuclear and several missile tests still followed.
According to a U. S.-Korea Institute report last year, “China’s cooperation [is] essential but with increasing tensions in the South China Sea, the U. S. rebalance to Asia, and South Korea’s decision to deploy THAAD, this can no longer be taken for granted.”
To truly bridle the Kim regime, the incoming U. S. President will have to work hard to assure Beijing that its strategic interests are not compromised by coming down tougher on North Korea. The question is: Does Trump’s baiting of China on Twitter render a difficult sell now impossible?

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