Earlier today, Trump announced he would replace current Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and nominate CIA Director Mike Pompeo as the country’s chief diplomat.
Jessica Chen Weiss
Associate Professor of Government at Cornell University
Jessica Chen Weiss, professor of government at Cornell University and expert in Chinese foreign policy, says that with a new secretary of state, China and Asia can probably expect more of Trump’s wild swings between rhetorical confrontation and cooperation.
Weiss says:
“Tillerson’s ouster is a sign of continued turbulence in U.S. foreign policy. A potential silver lining is that the State Department will fare better under someone who has Trump’s ear.
“China and Asia can probably expect more of Trump’s wild swings between rhetorical confrontation and cooperation. Like Trump, Pompeo has shown a high regard for Xi Jinping as a strongman, saying last October that ‘President Xi will come out of this in a dominant position with incredible capacity to do good around the world.’ But he has also pointed to China’s capacity to ‘present the greatest rivalry to America of any of those over the medium and long term.”
