US Republican party platform adopts tough posture against China

Adopting a tough posture against China, the Republican party has said it can't allow Beijing to continue with its policies on several fronts, including currency manipulation, offenses against intellectual property and aggressive behaviour in the South China Sea.

"China's behaviour has negated the optimistic language of our last platform concerning our future relations with the country," the Republican platform expressed yesterday at the Republican national convention.

Notably, in 2012, the platform had welcomed the emergence of a peaceful and prosperous China.

To distract the populace from its increasing economic problems and more importantly, to expand its military might, the Chinese government asserts a preposterous claim to the entire South China Sea, it said.

It also continues to dredge ports and create landing fields in contested waters where nothing has existed before, even nearer to US territories and our allies, while building a navy far out of proportion to defensive purposes, said the party at the Republican convention here, led by its presidential candidate Donald Trump.

"The complacency of the Obama regime has emboldened the Chinese government and military to issue threats of intimidation throughout the South China Sea, not to mention parading their new missile, 'the Guam Killer,' down the main streets of Beijing, a direct shot at Guam as America's first line of defense," the platform said.

"Meanwhile, cultural genocide continues in Tibet and Xinjiang, the promised autonomy of Hong Kong is eroded, the currency is manipulated, our technology is stolen, and intellectual property and copyrights are mocked in an economy based on piracy," it said.

"In business terms, this is not competition; it is a hostile takeover," it said, adding, "For any American company to abet those offenses, especially governmental censorship and tracking of dissenters, is a disgrace."

According to the platform, the return to Maoism by China's current rulers is not a reason to disengage with the Chinese people or their institutions.

"We welcome students, tourists, and investors, who can see for themselves our vibrant American democracy and how real democracy works," the platform said.

However, it warned, "We caution, however, against academic or cultural operations under the control of the Chinese government and call upon American colleges to dissociate themselves from this increasing threat to academic freedom and honest research."