The timing of Wanzhou’s arrest on Saturday during President Trump and China’s Xi Jiping’s meeting in Buenos Aires to negotiate a way out of the trade tiff is being viewed by China as politically motivated.
“These kinds of things happen with some frequency. We certainly don’t inform the President on every one of them,” National Security Advisor John Bolton told National Public Radio.
Some warn that China will not take this action sitting down and could move to dissolve talks. Jeff Moon, who conducted trade negotiations with China during the Obama administration, warned the arrest could chill new talks, adding that “up until this point, China’s goal has been to preserve the status quo. They have retaliated only after U.S. acted. In this case, we may tip them over into active retaliation.”
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