Trump Tested: China Takes Slap At President-Elect With US Military Drone Seizure, Says Defense Expert

China’s seizure of the U.S. underwater military drone off the coast of the Philippines this week was a slap at President-Elect Donald Trump, according to one military expert. There was no mistake involved when the Chinese navy pulled the drone from the sea. The act was deliberate and meant as a signal to soon-to-be president Trump that the People’s Republic of China would not idly stand for his inept or seeming undiplomatic breaches of protocol.

The Hill reported this week that, according to Harry Kazianis, director of defense studies at the Center for the National Interest, the seizure of the underwater military drone, one the U.S. Navy has maintained was clearly marked as an American vehicle, was likely a carefully orchestrated act and not a simple mistake. He thinks China was sending a message to Donald Trump, who is scheduled to be sworn in as the United States’ 45th president on January 20, 2017, that the government in Beijing has not appreciated Trump’s belligerent attitude toward China and particularly was displeased with the real estate billionaire’s recent acceptance of a congratulatory phone call from the island nation of the Republic of China (commonly referred to as Taiwan), which the mainland government does not recognize as sovereign.

Trump’s phone call with Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen after he won the presidential election on November 8 broke diplomatic protocol established in the Jimmy Carter administration (1979), when the U.S. formally recognized the People’s Republic of China, whose government sees Taiwan as a breakaway province and in no manner an independent national entity. Although the U.S. has trade agreements and sells military arms to Taiwan, it has become established protocol, in a nod to furthering good relations with Beijing, to not in any way formally acknowledge the government in Taipei.

Trump’s phone call with Tsai was a diplomatic breach that has not only prompted the questioning of his actions, but also a formal complaint issued by Beijing to Washington.

Kazianis says the orders to seize the drone were not likely made at the spur of the moment, but most likely originated from China’s highest echelons of military officials.

“Knowing Chinese military officials for many years and how orders are communicated from the highest power centers in Beijing down to commanders on the ground or water, this was very likely a highly planned and escalatory move to show China will not take matters lightly when it comes to President-elect Trump’s phone call and comments on Taiwan, or Chinese actions overall.”

Kazianis says he also expects China to “aggressively test” Donald Trump when he assumes his role as president. Such testing occurred in the early days of both the George W. Bush and the Barack Obama administrations. As Kazianis told The Hill, China tested Bush just 77 days after he took office. In what would later be called the EP-3 Incident, a situation occurred when a Chinese fighter jet smashed into a U.S. surveillance plane. And Obama had been president only 44 days when a U.S. naval vessel was surrounded by Chinese ships.

So, he says, Trump will likely be tested early as well. Kazianis believes that the test will come in the South China Sea, where tensions have risen with China’s moves to control some man-made islands there. In fact, the Wall Street Journal reported this week that satellite photos show evidence that China has begun fortifying islands in the hotly contested Spratly archipelago even though President Xi Jinping had pledged not to militarize the islands.

As a test for the new president, Harry Kazianis predicts that China will declare an “air defense identification zone in the South China Sea” in Trump’s first six months in office, a similar move it made in the East China Sea in 2013. Of course, this will lead to an inevitable rise in tensions in the region, he says.

As an indication that the seizure of the underwater military drone might have actually been intentional, Reuters has reported that China, through state-run media, has stated that Beijing has been in constant contact with Washington since acquiring the drone and has been in talks with authorities about its return. Beijing also scolded the U.S. for allowing the situation to become hyped in the media.

[Featured Image by Alex Wong/Getty Images]