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The seizing of an unmanned US Navy drone by the Chinese is an “unpresidented [sic] act,” President-elect Donald Trump tweeted early Saturday. The USNS Bowditch, which has a civilian crew, was about to retrieve the underwater device Thursday when it was snapped up by a Chinese warship in the South China Sea. “China steals United States Navy research drone in international waters – rips it out of water and takes it to China in unpresidented [sic] act,” Trump wrote on Twitter. He’s since deleted the misspelled tweet. The $150,000, 10-foot drone was part of a scientific mission collecting oceanographic data....

On August 14th, 1912, the United States launched its first aircraft carrier, the USS Langley. This 11,500 ton ship served during both World Wars until its luck ran out near Java in 1942 and had to be abandoned and sunk in order to avoid capture by the Japanese. Almost one hundred years later, China has just launched its first aircraft carrier and the U.S. State department is demanding to know why. "We would welcome any kind of explanation that China would like to give for needing this kind of equipment," said Victoria Nuland, a State department spokeswoman. Let me give...

Help needed in passing urgent message to Rush Limbaugh! He said he couldn't sing along with Lang-Lang piano anti American performance at the White House State Dinner because he would be blasted for singing in Chinese. Please TELL RUSH (and Paul Shanklin!)that the White House Microphone picked up the President singing along in English! Not only did he know the words to the tune played by Lang-Lang, He took great pleasure in singing "we will fight the American jackals" and destroy them with our weapons! I only hope Paul Shanklin knows the words of the tune so he can fill...

Very carefully choosing his words. In other news, "Feds say fish need water" ....

On Fox News this morning, State Department Spokesman P.J. Crowley became the third Obama administration official in short succession to admit that he hadn’t actually bothered to read Arizona’s 10-page long “secure the border” bill before condemning it and criticizing Americans who support Arizona’s necessary efforts to do the job the Obama Administration should be doing. Crowley’s statement follows similar admissions from Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano. At first blush this revelation seemed unbelievable, but maybe I shouldn’t be surprised. This now seems “the Washington way” of doing things. If the party in power...

Military Advantage: Our defense secretary proposes doing what no other foreign adversary has done: sink the U.S. Navy. We don't need those billion-dollar destroyers, he says. Meanwhile, the Chinese navy rushes to fill the vacuum. Once Britannia ruled the waves, later to be replaced by America and its Navy. From the Battle of Midway to President Reagan's 600-ship fleet that helped win the Cold War, naval supremacy has been critical to the protection and survival of our nation. Which is why we find the recent remarks of Defense Secretary Robert Gates to the Navy League at the Sea-Air-Space expo so...

Realpolitik: At the start of the Nuclear Security Summit, we see an all-too-familiar gesture from our president. Is it a matter of courtesy, an idiosyncrasy or the administration's acceptance of a new world order? If there ever was an iconic tribute to the idea of U.S. exceptionalism, it was the fact that the American flag was never dipped during the parade of athletes at the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games. We never dipped or bowed to anybody, with the possible exception of figurehead royalty.

Brilliant, Pres. Obama. Simply brilliant. Way to go to fortify relations with our reliable allies in the region, particularly with a key lynchpin like JAPAN.The upshot in the original Japanese was that Japan was snubbed in D.C. for an individual "summit meeting" with Obama, while Obama on the other hand kowtowed and gave the Red Chinese the red carpet (literally) treatment.Note, no "kowtow" to Prime Minister Hatoyama (Japan) that there was to Red Chinese President Hu Jin Tao. This I assure you was not lost on Tokyo (nor Beijing, Seoul, Pyongyang, Taipei, Moscow, Teheran, Damascus, Tel Aviv etc for that...

President Barack Obama greets Chinese President Hu Jintao during the official arrivals for the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, Monday April 12, 2010

At a crucial moment, China is throwing a lifeline to Kim Jong Il. North Korea is an increasingly fragile state. But with Beijing’s help, it will probably survive to once again threaten the United States with nuclear destruction. Today, North Korea threatened to unleash “unprecedented nuclear strikes” on the United States and South Korea. The reason for Pyongyang’s extreme unhappiness? Washington and Seoul are making plans about what to do should the North fall apart. Kim Jong Il’s regime called the possibility of internal unrest a “pipe dream.”

Taiwanese Americans met with a US State Department official and one from the AIT to deliver a petition asking that the US president reaffirm the TRA(Taiwan Relations Act).A large group of Taiwanese American organizations is petitioning US President Barack Obama to dramatically increase the US’ ability to stop a Chinese military takeover of Taiwan. Over the past three months, the group has collected 17,000 letters of support from Taiwan, Japan, Canada and across the US. They met on Tuesday in Washington with Ted Mann, director of the US State Department’s Office of Taiwan Coordination, and Barbara Schrage, managing director of...

The US and China completed a series of top-level talks on arms sales to Taiwan, with Washington refusing to give Beijing any assurances that the sales would be stopped or curtailed, a US official said on Thursday. “The US responded to PRC [People’s Republic of China] concerns over Taiwan by reiterating that it has followed a consistent approach,” State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said. Deputy Secretary of State Jim Steinberg and Senior Director for Asian Affairs Jeff Bader conducted the talks this week in Beijing. They are now in Tokyo meeting senior Japanese government officials. In Beijing they met Chinese...

The country is increasingly relying on exports to the U.S. Last year everyone knew Beijing was developing other export markets and decreasing its reliance on the U.S. I read commentary after commentary to that effect, and I believed that Chinese officials, who can be a determined lot, would be successful in diversifying away from America's market. Why? It was sensible for China's technocrats, who properly worried about the shaky state of the American economy, to lessen their country's dependence on debt-ridden, shopped-out U.S. consumers. In any event, Chinese dependence on exports to America was reaching unhealthy--and unsustainable--levels. In 2007 China's...

Geopolitics: As America unilaterally disarms, a Chinese officer in a new book touts a new reality — that China is prepared to rule the roost, and the U.S. better keep off the grass. On April 5, 2009, in Prague, President Obama gave a speech in which he pledged America would work toward a "world without nuclear weapons." Almost a year later, it seems we are moving toward a world without American nuclear weapons. "To put an end to Cold War thinking," the president said, "we will reduce the role of nuclear weapons in our national security strategy and urge others...

China on Friday demanded the White House cancel a meeting between US President Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama, warning that already strained ties between the two powers would be damaged further. Beijing reacted angrily to the White House announcement that Obama would next week receive the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, accused by China of seeking independence for his homeland. "We firmly oppose the Dalai Lama visiting the United States and US leaders having contact with him," foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said. "We urge the US side to fully understand the high sensitivity of Tibet-related issues, and honour its...

Dollar-denominated risk assets, including asset-backed securities and corporates, are no longer wanted at the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), nor at China’s large commercial banks. The Chinese government has ordered its reserve managers to divest itself of riskier securities and hold only Treasuries and US agency debt with an implicit or explicit government guarantee. This already has been communicated to American securities dealers, according to market participants with direct knowledge of the events. It is not clear whether China’s motive is simple risk aversion in the wake of a sharp widening of corporate and mortgage spreads during the past...

Military leaders in China called for the sale of U.S. debt securities on Monday, February 8, 2010 in response to arms sales recently made to Taiwan.

David Goldman: China's Dumping Of US Assets Means A Coming Spike In Borrowing Costs Joe Weisenthal Feb. 10, 2010, 8:14 AM Last night on Kudlow, credit analyst David Goldman discussed the news that China is dumping any US fixed-income assets that aren't explicitly backed by the government. What does this mean? Trouble for banks and big increases in borrowing costs for businesses. His comments come around the 11:00 mark. Before that Greece is discussed, which is also worthwhile.[snip]

Andy Xie: China Better Open Up Its Economy Fast, Else An Obama Trade War Will Crush It Vincent Fernando | Feb. 10, 2010, 5:12 AM | 531 | comment 4 Andy Xie issues a stark warning for China in a latest Caing opinion piece. Essentially, America's major hope for recovery and job growth right now lies in growing its exports since the Fed can't slash rates much lower, and American government is completely grid-locked by politics (thus can't do much for the domestic economy). Thus he expects an increasingly aggressive stance from the Obama administration on U.S. - China trade....

Defense officials on the island that has fallen behind in the military balance of power with China had agreed with Washington in 2008 to a study on upgrading Taiwan's aging submarine fleet but will stop pushing the item to keep peace with Beijing, said a source close to the Defense ministry in Taipei. "Taiwan isn't asking for the submarines anymore," the source told Reuters. "The biggest consideration was the warming of relations with mainland China." China has blasted the United States over a planned $6.4-billion arms package for Taiwan, saying it would place sanctions on U.S. firms that sell weapons...