President Moon Jae-in the the Korean equivalent of Barack Obama.  Today President Donald Trump and First-lady Melania Trump welcome President Moon and Mrs. Kim Jung-sook to the White House.  During the oval office meeting President Trump took questions from the press corps [Video and Transcript below]

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[Transcript] – 12:19 P.M. EDT – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much. It’s a great honor to have President Moon of South Korea with us and a very, very great privilege to have Mrs. Kim. Thank you very much. Very much. We hope you enjoy your stay.
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Put this into the geopolitical file labeled: “Things that make other things make sense”…  You only need to watch the first minute and fifteen-seconds of this announcement to see the bigger BIG picture.  WATCH:

[Transcript Snippet] … “This is the first time that the United States has designated a part of another government as an FTO. We’re doing because the Iranian regime’s use of terrorism as a tool of statecraft makes it fundamentally different from any other government. This historic step will deprive the world’s leading state sponsor of terror the financial means to spread misery and death around the world.”

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Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham (U-DC) appears on Fox News with Maria Bartiromo to discuss his plans for investigative obfuscation and oversight.  On a positive note, Graham is considerably less optimistic as he discusses his efforts to pressure AG Bill Barr to establish a special counsel.  Previously Graham expressed “confidence”, now he’s expressing “hope”. Hmm, perhaps AG Barr is less favorable to another special counsel.
It also sounds like someone has informed Senator Graham the preferred direction for accountability is support for criminal referrals and direct investigation/prosecution. Perhaps that subtle shift is connected to his re-election effort.
The conversation then shifts to border security, China and North Korea.  Senator Graham affirms he is aligned with President Trump on those three critical issues.

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Something slightly delayed next week’s schedule by a few days.  Quite possibly the issue with the “Sanctions”, discussed yesterday.  However, that said, the next two face-to-face discussions between USTR Lighthizer and Vice Premier Liu He have been scheduled.

Statement from the Press Secretary – At the direction of President Donald J. Trump, United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin will travel to Beijing, China, for principal-level meetings starting on March 28, 2019, to continue negotiations aimed at improving the trade relationship between the United States and China.

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Yesterday the U.S. Treasury announced sanctions against two Chinese shipping firms for violating ongoing sanctions against North Korea [TREASURY HERE].
With USTR Robert Lighthizer and Secretary Mnuchin set to travel this weekend to Beijing for ongoing trade discussion, the sanction timing complicates the dance with the dragon. Subsequently President Trump sends the following tweet:

Slamming China with sanctions (over DPRK dragon activity) while Beijing is showing the Panda mask (during Beijing trade negotiations) is not wise. If the Panda mask drops during trade negotiations to reveal the Dragon face, then ok. However, the majority of the West, driven by a misunderstanding of the China-DPRK relationship, does not know how directly a manipulative Beijing controls Pyongyang.
Taking aggressive sanction action against China could backfire with Beijing ordering those around Chairman Kim to test a missile.
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White House Acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney appears on Fox News with Chris Wallace to discuss ongoing political events.  Wallace spends half the interview trying to attach the terrorist attack in New Zealand to the Trump administration before eventually moving on to issues surrounding North Korea and the border security veto.

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China has no cultural or political space between peace and war; they are a historic nation based on two points of polarity.  They see peace and war as coexisting with each other.
China accepts and believes opposite or contrary forces may actually be complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world, and they may give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another.  Flowing between these polar states is a natural dynamic to be used -with serious contemplation- in advancing objectives as needed.
Peace or war. Yin and Yang. Panda or Dragon. Culturally there is no middle position in dealings with communist China; they are not capable of understanding or valuing the western philosophy of mutual benefit where concession of terms gains a larger outcome.  If it does not benefit China, it is not done. The outlook is simply, a polarity of peace or war.  In politics or economics the same perspective is true.  It is a zero-sum outlook.
Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford confirm to the Senate Armed Services Committee that Google’s work in China is directly benefiting the government and Chinese military.

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National Security Adviser John Bolton appears with Maria Bartiromo to discuss recent reports that Kim Jong-un is moving toward more nuclear testing.
Obviously that discussion moves quickly into the influence of China and Chairman Xi Jinping.
The frustrating question no-one ever seems to ask is not “if” China controls the DPRK government, but rather “to what extent”?
It has become more obvious in the past few years that North Korea’s Chairman Kim Jong-un has much less control over officials and military leadership within his own government than previously thought.
Does Chairman Xi and Beijing structurally control everything around Kim? Is Kim a hostage; forced to ride a dragon he doesn’t control?  I think the answer is yes.

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Once people start to realize that China controls North Korea as a proxy province, then the discussion can evolve toward the true nature of the challenge, and the way President Trump is precariously negotiating a hostage release while refusing to pay the ransom.
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U.S. Trade Rep Robert Lighthizer’s work on the U.S-China trade negotiations is easily the most technically challenging and legally complex trade deal in the history of U.S. Commerce.
Lighthizer is not focused on selling more U.S. product, he is focused on bigger issues and enforcement therein.
Think about it.  This is a deal between a U.S. open market economy and a communist controlled closed market economy in China.  No nation has a comprehensive trade deal with China on anything except individual business sectors.
Despite China’s entry into the World Trade Organization, no nation has ever achieved anything close to an aggregate FTA (Free Trade Agreement) with China.  This deal would be the first comprehensive deal, and as such Lighthizer is essentially mapping out an agreement that all other nations could follow….  This is big-league.
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The administration’s media point person for discussions following the Hanoi Summit between President Trump and Chairman Kim Jong-un is National Security Advisor John Bolton.
Ambassador Bolton appears on the Sunday talk circuit to discuss the ongoing negotiations. As anticipated none of the interviewers focused on the Chinese aspect at all.  Don’t look for President Trump to respond to Chairman Kim directly; instead watch how President Trump’s entire team responds to China.  Chairman Xi Jinping controls Kim Jong-un.
Likely Treasury (Mnuchin) and State (Pompeo) will focus on DPRK sanctions violations; likely USTR (Lighthizer) and Commerce (Ross) focus on hard-line trade position; likely USTR, Commerce and State focus on tech issues (Hauwei and 5G) and pressure allies.  All of these targeted approaches rightly focus on China (cause), not North Korea (symptom).
Ambassador Bolton appears on Fox News:

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Ambassador Bolton also appeared on CBS (below):
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