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China’s got the long-term arc and it’s playing everybody, says US Senator Elizabeth Warren
US Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren on Tuesday praised Chinese leaders for their forward-thinking agenda in mapping out a way to the future.
During a segment of CBS This Morning, Warren was asked to comment on US President Donald Trump’s North Korea initiative.
But the senior Democrat, who has been critical of Trump’s presidency, said she doesn’t believe he has a strategy behind his North Korea initiative.
She used the example of China to highlight a country that is implementing a foreign policy strategy.
“China’s got the long-term arc and it’s playing everybody, it’s playing North Korea, it’s playing South Korea, it’s playing the United States of America. because it has a longtime whole-of-government strategy that keeps driving toward an end.”
Warren said that diplomacy is a long process undertaken by “people who know what they are doing”. But she said the very people who are expert enough to negotiate with North Korea are no longer working for the government because “the Trump administration decimated the State Department”.
She indicated that Trump did not have an “underlining plan” on how to deal with North Korea.
“I’m serious about this comparison with a country like China,” she reiterated.
“China is investing 9 per cent of its GDP in infrastructure – it’s building a future for its economy, its workers … building it for the future,” she said.
But in the US, only three per cent of GDP is geared for infrastructure “when much of it crumbles around us”. She blamed Trump’s tax cuts for the lack of infrastructure funds.
Trump has repeatedly thanked China for its pressure on North Korea in the recent crises and for helping to bring both sides closer to holding face-to-face talks
By Firas Al-Atraqchi with inputs from Agencies
