Ying Ma's Blog, page 14
October 27, 2017
How the Conservative Foreign Policy Establishment Failed Americans Long Before Donald Trump
Breitbart, October 27, 2017
Former President George W. Bush, Senator John McCain, Senator Bob Corker and other Republican luminaries have publicly criticized President Donald Trump’s foreign policy in recent days.
Yet, long before Trump took over the national political conversation, the conservative foreign policy establishment had systematically betrayed conservative principles and abandoned intellectual rigor for ideological rigidity in foreign policy.
Many individuals and institutions participated, but one example of how a major conservative think tank went about the task shows the insidiousness of the betrayal and offers insight into the intellectual disorderliness that led to Trump’s rise.
It was the fall of 2005, and the Iraq War was raging. I had just graduated from Stanford Law School and given up a lucrative Wall Street law firm salary to spend a year as a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI).
A few weeks into my fellowship, AEI issued what I perceived as a very unsubtle threat against me. I was told to stop conducting research on national sovereignty and international law and instead work on democratization in Asia. AEI understood that I was exploring opportunities in Vice President Dick Cheney’s office, and if I did not listen they would make sure I did not succeed.
I had been a conservative my entire adult life. Never did I imagine that this venerable institution of conservative thought would threaten me for attempting to put conservative thoughts on paper, but it did.
(Read the rest of the article HERE.)
October 11, 2017
Dear intellectual elites: Sovereignty is what ‘America First’ foreign policy is all about
Washington Examiner, October 11, 2017
Sovereignty is a concept that lies at the heart of President Trump’s “America First” agenda. Recently, it has emerged with greater force and clarity. Yet with a few exceptions, the policy establishment does not have the slightest clue what it means.
Most intellectual elites had no idea what the Trump political revolution of the 2016 election meant either. Some, including many Never Trumpers, have continued to pretend they can explain Trump to the masses with great authority, while others foam at the mouth at his every utterance and action.
Certainly, self-styled “smart people” are entitled to remain within their own bubbles and talk only to people who confirm their worldviews. For those who actually wish to understand the world better, the emergence of sovereignty as a more cogent governing concept in the Trump administration is a fascinating development.
To read the rest of the article, please click HERE .
October 3, 2017
Interview Re: All Things Trump
Planet America, ABC (Australia), September 22, 2017
Ying Ma recently spoke with the ABC, Australia’s public broadcast station, about North Korea, President Trump’s UN speech, sovereignty in foreign affairs, Obamacare repeal efforts, illegal immigration, and other issues. Click HERE to view the video (interview begins around 9:25).
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August 31, 2017
Why I Support Donald Trump
The Foreign Correspondents Club, August 29, 2017
Earlier this week, Ying Ma spoke to The Foreign Correspondents Club of Hong Kong about the Donald Trump presidency, the Trump political revolution of the 2016 campaign, the Trump administration’s controversies and accomplishments, and her continued support for the President.
Watch a video of the discussion here or on YouTube.
(Note of clarification: The host introduced Ms. Ma as a senior advisor at Avenue Strategies, a firm co-founded by President Trump’s first campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski. Mr. Lewandowski is longer affiliated with Avenue Strategies.)
August 22, 2017
Ying Ma Talks to Bloomberg About Trump’s Afghanistan Address
Bloomberg Markets Asia, August 22, 2017
Ying Ma spoke to Bloomberg Markets Asia about President Donald Trump’s new Afghanistan strategy, the promises he made as a candidate to end America’s “stupid, endless wars,” and his determination not to leave a vacuum for terrorists in Afghanistan. To view the video, please click HERE.
Earlier in the week, Ying Ma spoke with Bloomberg “Daybreak Asia” about Trump’s reaction to the violence in Charlottesville, his perception by the business community, and the outlook for his policy agenda. Click HERE to listen to this radio interview.
August 14, 2017
What the media didn’t tell you about Trump and Charlottesville
Washington Examiner, August 14, 2017
The heated debate over the weekend about whether President Trump was enabling white supremacist groups revealed the mainstream media’s eagerness to label him a racist. Yes, Trump should have more unambiguously spurned racists who invoked his name as inspiration for their violence, but the mainstream media’s coverage and Trump haters’ reaction also showed the knee-jerk, decrepit nature of this country’s discussion on race.
When a white nationalist rally ended in violence in Charlottesville on Saturday, President Trump tweeted, “We all must be united & condemn all that hate stands for.”
When it was confirmed that a female counter-protester died and more than a dozen were injured, Trump said on Sunday, “We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides.”
In turn, pundits and politicians alike lambasted Trump’s failure to explicitly name white supremacists in his condemnation.
On CNN’s “State of the Union” yesterday, anchor Jake Tapper asked if Trump was sending a dog whistle to the white supremacists who supported him. To bolster his point, Tapper repeatedly pointed to his interview with Trump in February 2016 where Trump did not explicitly disavow support from former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke.
Nowhere did Tapper point out that two days before his interview with Trump, the presidential candidate was asked at a press conference about Duke’s endorsement and unequivocally declared, “I disavow.”
After his interview with Tapper, Trump reiterated his rejection of Duke’s support on Twitter. Tapper said nothing about that either.
To read the entire article, please click HERE .
[image error]Alt Right demonstrators clash with counter demonstrators at the entrance to Lee Park in Charlottesville, Aug. 12, 2017. Source: https://www.voanews.com/a/rallies-in-aftermath-of-charlottesville-violence/3983710.html.
July 16, 2017
China vs. USA in the Trump Era
Originally published on Fox News, July 16, 2017
Conventional wisdom says that President Donald Trump has been propagating America’s retreat from the world, giving China a golden opportunity to fill the void and make its case for global leadership on issues such as trade and climate change. These declarations grew to a crescendo at the G-20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany, earlier this month, but they are fundamentally mistaken about U.S. leadership and Chinese reforms and ambitions.
Chinese leaders are determined to challenge U.S. dominance in Asia and had never planned on asking for American permission, no matter who occupies the White House.
U.S. global leadership also is not premised on blindly following the preferences of other countries. Additionally, under Trump’s predecessor, U.S. foreign policy bounced between setback and blunder, especially in Asia. The Trump administration would be wise not to rush into the same exercise.
After the new U.S. president took office, the Chinese commerce minister admonished America: “Now is no time for protectionism.” Instead, he observed, more “openness and cooperation” between the two countries was the right path forward.
His message, delivered in 2009, was intended for President Barack Obama, who came to office promising to renegotiate NAFTA unilaterally and oppose free trade pacts concluded by the George W. Bush administration.
Today, Communist China has again taken to preaching the virtues of globalization. Those who declare the world has been turned upside downobviously have a short memory, but they also fail to appreciate that China’s pronouncements stem from more than pure opportunism; they are about the core tenets of the country’s messy economic reforms as well.
Beijing had professed its affection for the market economy long before Trump surprised the world with his trade rhetoric. Indeed, China’s economic reforms of the past 38 years featured precisely a raging battle between free-market capitalism and state control. In November 2013, the Chinese Communist Party even issued a “blueprint” pledging to give the market a “decisive role” in its ongoing economic experiment.
Yet China is in no way qualified to lecture the U.S. on economic freedom. In its “blueprint,” the Chinese Communist Party could not even bring itself to refer to the private sector by name, and opted to call it the “non-public ownership economy.” Whatever Xi may say about open economies at fancy international gatherings, he has expressed little interest to stand on the side of the market reforms against statism at home.
Meanwhile, those familiar with China’s trading practices know not to buy into Xi’s speechmaking at face value. Trump’s threats of drastic tariffs might be over the top, but China hardly has the moral high ground. After all, this is the country that favors domestic industries while restricting imports, coerces technology transfer from foreign firms wishing to operate in the China market, and steals over $200 billion of intellectual property from the U.S. each year.
Similarly, Beijing’s supposed leadership on climate change means standing together with Europe and other countries on an agreement that would have almost no discernable impact on the climate.
Amid these contradictions, Beijing’s intent to challenge the U.S.-led order in Asia is no joke, and it would be a mistake to assume, as the Obama administration did, that China will back down simply because the U.S. says so.
Notably, China’s “One Belt, One Road” initiative, a grand vision for building infrastructure and promoting development along maritime and land routes of the old Silk Road, has been touted as China’s effort to create a new world order. Already, the initiative has attracted 68 other member countries, on whom China has promised to spend over $100 billion.
Many see this as an opening for China to challenge the international financial architecture that America helped built, but the unmistakable rebuke to U.S. leadership in this realm actually took place a couple of years ago when Obama tried and failed to strong-arm allies into boycotting the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), an entity established by China to fulfill the unmet infrastructure needs of Asia’s emerging markets. Allies from Europe to Asia ignored U.S. wishes and signed on. The AIIB is now a key funding organization for “One Belt, One Road” projects.
The Obama administration’s ham-handed approach to the AIIB fit into an overall Asia policy that was ineffective and inadequate. Having begun by over-promising an accommodation of Beijing’s interests, the administration then announced a muscular “pivot” to Asia. Beijing saw the effort as a thinly veiled effort to contain China’s rise and pushed back harder. Before China’s aggressive land grabs in the South China Sea, intimidation of neighbors and outrageous cyber-attacks against the U.S. government, the Obama administration’s response was frequently hapless.
Obama’s inability to enforce the red line he drew for Syria’s use of chemical weapons in 2013 further eroded U.S. credibility. It sent a message to the capitals of Asia that America might talk tough but would do little.
In short, recollections of the success of U.S. global leadership before Trump are simply misplaced, as rumors of the imminence of a Chinese global takeover are greatly exaggerated.
This does not mean that the U.S. should graciously yield power to China, and the Trump administration has never argued as such. Just in recent weeks, it grumbled about China’s inability to rein in North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, announced sanctions against a Chinese bank for aiding North Korea, approved a new arms sales package to Taiwan (to help it defend against China), and conducted a “freedom of navigation” exercise in the South China Sea near an island that is claimed by China but disputed by its neighbors.
Contending with China’s rise will require a much more comprehensive strategy than just a tougher posture, but trying something new might actually be a good idea, and was exactly what the American electorate ordered last November.
June 9, 2017
The Mainstream Media Should Shut Up and Listen for a While
Washington Examiner, June 9, 2017
Congressional testimony by former FBI Director James Comey Thursday revealed much of what the media got wrong about President Trump and the Russia investigation. The public learned that Trump himself—as he had indicated—was not under investigation, that he had every right to fire an FBI director he did not like, and that Comey presented no evidence that Trump engaged in obstruction of justice or committed an impeachable offense.
In many ways, the frenzy about Trump and Russia says a lot more about media hostility toward Trump than it does about Trump’s actions. The mainstream media has always exhibited rampant bias against right-of-center political figures. In the coverage of Trump, that bias has turned into all-out hysteria and insidious snickering.
While overt media hostility is outrageous, reporting laced with insidious bias is much more misleading and dangerous.
To read the entire piece, please click HERE.
May 23, 2017
Ying Ma Discusses Trump and Russia Investigation
Radio National, ABC (Australia), May 22, 2017
Ying Ma joined Australian public radio to discuss recent controversies involving President Donald Trump, his meeting with the Russian Foreign Minister in the White House, the ongoing FBI investigation into links between his campaign and Russia, and more.
To listen to the program, click HERE.
May 19, 2017
Where Anti-Trump Derangement Syndrome Comes From
Washington Examiner, May 19, 2017
There appears to be no end to the Left’s vitriol against President Trump. After his inauguration, massive and sometimes-violent anti-Trump protests have broken out across the country. The mainstream liberal press hyperventilates over his every statement and action, with reporters spouting opinions as fact and one supposedly objective TV anchor literally rolling his eyes at a Trump surrogate. In the latest bout of hysteria, Democrats and liberals are obsessing gleefully over the (dim) prospect of Trump’s impeachment.
While Trump is prone to deliver high drama with his management style and personality, the hatred he inspires comes with a whole lot of derangement and hypocrisy. It can also trace its roots to the political correctness and intellectual intolerance with which American society and higher education are saturated.
To read the rest of the article, please click HERE .
