Drone seizure spells tougher U.S.-China times

BEIhttps://www.facebook.com/pinjory.biswasJING: China’s seizure of an American underwater drone is the latest sign that the Pacific Ocean’s dominant power and its rising Asian challenger are headed for more confrontation once U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes office, analysts said Monday. Chinese political experts said China seized the glider in the South China Sea last week to send a strong warning to Trump not to test Beijing’s resolve over the sensitive issue of Taiwan, the self-ruled island Beijing considers part of its territory.
Meanwhile, smaller countries in Southeast Asia are watching the back-and-forth closely for signs that U.S. naval dominance might be diminishing, others said.
Trump’s Dec. 2 phone call with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen was the first time an American president or president-elect has publicly spoken to Taiwan’s leader since Washington broke off its formal diplomatic relationship in 1979 at China’s behest. Trump later said he did not feel “bound by a one-China policy” unless the U.S. could gain trade or other benefits from China.
Beijing regards any acknowledgement that Taiwan has its own head of state as a grave insult.
The drone seizure “is a kind of response from China to Trump’s recent provocations on the issue,” said Ni Lexiong, a military expert at the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law. “It can be regarded as a warning to countries such as the U.S. and Japan on their