WMAL Interview - MICHAEL AUSLIN - 04-07-17

INTERVIEW – MICHAEL AUSLIN – Asia expert, Resident scholar at American Enterprise Institute and author of new book “The End of the Asian Century: War, Stagnation, and the Risks to the World’s Most Dynamic Region” (Yale University Press, January 2017)

BIO: Michael Auslin, author of “The End of the Asian Century: War, Stagnation, and the Risks to the World’s Most Dynamic Region” (Yale University Press, 2017), is a resident scholar and the director of Japan Studies at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he specializes in Asian regional security and political issues. Before joining AEI, Dr. Auslin was an associate professor of history at Yale University. A regular contributor to The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and National Review, his books include “Pacific Cosmopolitans: A Cultural History of U.S.-Japan Relations” (Harvard University Press, 2011) and the forthcoming “The End of the Asian Century: War, Stagnation, and the Risks to the World’s Most Dynamic Region” (Yale University Press, 2016). He has advised both the US government and private business on Asian and global security issues.
President Trump is hosting Chinese President Xi Jinping (she jeen-peeng) for the first time at his Mar-a-Lago resort. In a brief statement before the two leaders sat down for dinner Mr. Trump says he is looking forward to a long and positive relationship with China.
Trump welcomes ‘friend’ China’s Xi for talks. US President Donald Trump has welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping to his Florida resort for their first summit. (BBC) — Mr Trump said the two men had “developed a friendship” as they sat for dinner at his Mar-a-Lago retreat. The American leader is expected to press his counterpart for action on North Korea, and Mr Xi to seek assurances on Taiwan. Mr Trump has said the summit “will be a very difficult one”. Last year he accused China of “raping the US”. During the election campaign, he said massive trade deficits and job losses could no longer be tolerated. But at dinner on Thursday, it was all smiles, with the leaders’ two wives, folk singer Peng Liyuan and First Lady Melania Trump also in attendance. The meeting was, however, largely overshadowed later by a US airstrike on an airbase in Syria in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack.
As the missiles were launched from two US warships in the Mediterranean, Donald Trump was in Florida, where he has been hosting the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, at his Mar-a-Lago resort. After news broke of the strike, Trump broke off from the meeting (and a dinner of steak and carrots) to address reporters on the military action.
CHINA AND NORTH KOREA: One of the most urgent issues for the US is North Korea, which is trying to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the west coast of the US with a nuclear device. It fired a medium-range missile into the Sea of Japan on Wednesday, the latest in a series of launches. Although Beijing has condemned this and previous missile tests, it has so far been reluctant to isolate its neighbour, fearing its collapse could spawn a refugee crisis and bring the US military to its doorstep. Mr Trump is expected to call on Mr Xi to arm-twist North Korea into halting its nuclear programme by denying it access to banking institutions.