Mattis seeks less contentious dialogue with China

Which will be quickly swatted aside by his moron of a boss' tweeting and little hand shaking. There's only so much other leaders will tolerate the "never mind him, he's just mentally handicapped" argument.

Other than having a conversation about North Korea, I fail to see the point on pretending the relationship between China and the U.S is anything other than adversarial. China has made it clear in the SCS and their continued encroachment on the Senkaku Islands that they are not interested in discussions to promote piece. They are interested in taking over territory by stealth or force. They still continue their tactics of using lasers, now in Japanese territorial waters.

https://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/military/chinese-fishing-boats-are-blinding-us-military-pilots-with-lasers/news-story/0e4ca5befb6c21c3d7928dd8c00392a4

The U.S. has also long been frustrated that China doesn't share much information about any war scenarios or other contingencies it has in place in the event of a conflict on the Korean peninsula or the collapse of the North Korean government.

You must be joking. Why on earth would you expect them to share anything?

ThePBotToday 07:54 pm JST

Other than North Korea, there's trade issues, environment issues, and etc. There's plenty to talk about.

Yes, but the Secretary of Defense doesn't meet with Chinese military leaders to discuss trade issues or the environment. We have other people who do that with their Chinese counterparts. Duh.

Slamming first and caressing afterwards seems to be the new US foreign policy :)

Mattis is a good guy but I am afraid his good will will brought him becoming another "Tillerson"! Trump likes crazy peole such as john Bolton!

World politics are never ever between just two countries or just between its leaders. In fact that can be said about any political scene. It is no different within a country or even within a business corporation or a nonprofit organization.

Intentions and appearances are often never the same just as as with rhetoric and action are never the same.

The key is in what each "communicates" to each other.

And to undestand that, one must look at the roles each of the participants and players are playing. Put that into multiple perspectives with the timing, the situation, circumstances, conditions and environment within which each action is being taken. Then look at the possible alternatives each of the participants and players could take or have taken, without preconditions as to what should be or with assumed results.

Take a look at the entire picture from that communication perspective and look at where this is leading to.

Now what do you see in this move..?

One must in communication analyze the broad picture then fine tune, systematically eliminating miscellaneous issues to meaningful specifics.

So what does this trip do to the relat

ionship bewteen the two countries and what does it communicate?

What the world is expecting is a good relationship between China and USA, the single most important relationship on the planet, like it or not. Only stupid people would damage the relationship, or take an advantage of the small differences between the two.

Matt Hartwell

Other than having a conversation about North Korea, I fail to see the point on pretending the relationship between China and the U.S is anything other than adversarial.

No one is arguing against that. Sometimes, you got to stop listening to the voices in your head.

Other than North Korea, there's trade issues, environment issues, and etc. There's plenty to talk about.