Taiwan's Central News Agency reported (December 23) that Retired PLA Navy Rear Admiral Luo Yuan, who is presently Deputy Secretary General of the Chinese Academy of Military Sciences, while speaking at a meeting in Shenzhen on December 20 on the current Sino–U.S. relationship, claimed the US-China trade war “is definitely not a simple economic and trade friction” but an “important strategic issue.” He said that “the U.S. national strategy has changed” and that in the United States though there are many differences between the two parties there is consensus on the China issue. Luo Yuan strongly advocated that China should respond with “asymmetric counterattacks.” He clarified this to mean “use my strength to attack the enemy’s shortcomings. Strike at what the enemy fears. Focus our development on the enemy’s soft spot.” Luo Yuan said that the “five fundamental foundations of the United States” are the military, the dollar, talent, the ballot, and the creation of enemies. Among them, in the military, “the United States is most afraid of death.” Luo Yuan suggested using a missile to sink one U.S. ship and cause 5,000 casualties, and two with 10,000 casualties. “Let’s see if the U.S. is afraid or not.” On the ballot, Luo Yuan claimed that playing the U.S. soybeans card would particularly hurt Iowa, a stronghold of the Trump campaign. Targeting American made cars would make GM, Ford, and Chrysler “second-rate companies.” He also suggested playing the airplane card, as one out of every three Boeing’s 737 passenger jets are sold to China. These three items are China’s “bargaining chips with the United States.”
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