Editorial: On the whole, Mr. Trump’s action plan positions the United States as a supplier of primary products and financial services to a tech-producing nation with which we would still enjoy a massive deficit in manufactured goods. Eliminating the latter was supposedly the Trump administration’s top goal with Beijing, but there isn’t even a reference in the plan to the United States’ most legitimate complaint regarding Chinese industrial mercantilism — its overcapacity in steel and aluminum. In any case, the administration’s focus on market-by-market bilateral governmental management, which this plan epitomizes, is economically irrational and plays to state capitalist China’s strengths. – Washington Post

America’s phase zero: US leaders often appear so confident of winning in wartime that they are myopic about what happens during peacetime – the so-called “phase zero” in US military terms. However, writes Grant Newsham , impressive and alarming improvements in China’s naval and air forces over the the last decade have happened faster than all but a handful of US analysts predicted. READ THE STORY HERE
 Silk Road gold: President Xi Jinping invokes Ming dynasty heroes, geopolitical development strategies and wild Asian geese analogies to portray China’s New Silk Roads initiative as the flagship of a trade-focussed new world order. Pepe Escobar writes that the big question now is how skillfully China can deploy soft power to rewrite the rules of the global trade game without upsetting other key players. READ THE STORY HERE

AEI

Francis Fukuyama:  OBOR Policy & Eurasia

Beijing's View of the World

China is pulling companies and countries more tightly into its economic and geopolitical sphere with the “One Belt, One Road” plan. A forum on the effort in Beijing, hosted on Sunday by China’s president, Xi Jinping, drew President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and other state leaders, as well as officials from more than three dozen countries, including the United States. – New York Times
 
The massive infrastructure projects, along with hundreds of others across Asia, Africa and Europe, form the backbone of China’s ambitious economic and geopolitical agenda. President Xi Jinping of China is literally and figuratively forging ties, creating new markets for the country’s construction companies and exporting its model of state-led development in a quest to create deep economic connections and strong diplomatic relationships. – New York Times
 
China’s economic activity weakened more than expected last month on flagging factory demand, part of an anticipated gradual slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy for the rest of 2017. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
 
Editorial: While it’s good that Mr. Trump has pulled back from protectionism, dampening the swings in the way his Administration portrays China relations would bring better results. Mr. Ross’s accomplishment would have found a more appreciative reception if he had simply said that hard negotiating gets results from Beijing but much work remains to be done. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)

IMF delegation presses Egypt on cuts to energy subsidiesAn International Monetary Fund delegation arrived in Cairo on Sunday to review Egypt’s commitment to cutting energy subsidies, raising taxes and seeking more international financing. The reforms are required for Egypt to get the next $1.25 billion tranche of the three-year, $12 billion loan agreement agreed to in November. Cairo received the first $2.75 billion installment when foreign currency reserves dropped significantly soon after the deal was signed.