[perihelions]

I feel this WSJ exclusive properly contextualizes the US commerce secretary's threat to abandon an ally:

https://www.wsj.com/world/china/trump-xi-talks-china-taiwan-... ("Xi Is Chasing Huge Concession From Trump: Opposing Taiwan Independence" (2 days ago))

In the 20th century, opposition to totalitarianism in the West was idealistic; in the US it's now transactional. US leadership is signalling Chinese annexation of Taiwan is no longer a red line; it's something to be negotiated—something that Taiwan is expected to negotiate with the US (and perhaps Xi is also invited to negotiate?)

[seanmcdirmid]

Trump is transactional. We just just transactional now as a country because Trump is calling all the shots while Congress and the courts are mostly ineffective in doing anything about that.