Monday, December 26, 2016

Analysis: China Is Both Threat, Opportunity for Donald Trump

Part 1 in a Series 

Donald Trump was elected to president on a platform of politics not as usual, so it is fitting he inherits a world in flux. Post-World War II rules are dying, old alliances shifting and traditional roles shed. While Trump is a giant question mark on the world stage, NBC News' Chief Global Correspondent Bill Neely looks at major international challenges the president-elect faces upon inauguration on Jan. 20. 

LONDON — The flamboyant leader of the Philippines flew to Beijing in October and declared his nation's decades-old alliance with the United States dead.

President Rodrigo Duterte said it was time to "say goodbye" to America and claimed that "only China could help" his country.

By any standard, his pivot was dramatic and signaled the most important realignment in the region in decades. It was also a symbol of a major challenge facing president-elect Donald Trump — the rise of China.

After hundreds of years of looking inward, China is flexing its muscles regionally by building aircraft carriers, asserting its dominance over most of the disputed South China Sea and sending troops abroad.

While the U.S. remains the world's dominant military and economic power, China now is the world's second-biggest economy and has the largest military. 

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