china continues a methodical strategy to control the south china sea. i testified last year that china was militarized in this critical international waterway and the air space above it by building air and naval bases on seven chinese man made islands. despite subsequent chinese assurances at the highest levels that they would not military eyes these bases, today they support long-range weapons and placements, fighter aircraft hangars, red arrow towers and barracks for their troops. china's militarization of the south china sea is real. i'm also not taking my eyes off of russia. which just last week flew bomber missions near alaska, on successive days for the first time since 2014. russia continues to modernize its military and exercises, its considerable conventional and nuclear forces in the pacific. so despite the region's four significant challenges, since my last report to you, we have strengthened america's network of alliances and partnerships. working with like-minded partners on shared security threats like north korea and isis is a key componen

china continues a strategy to control the south china sea. i testified last year that china was militarizing this critical international waterway by building bases on seven chinese man-made islands in the disputed groups. despite subsequent chinese assurances at the highest levels that they would not militarize these bases, today they have these facilities that support long-range weapons and placement of radio towers, barracks for their troops. china's militarization of the south china sea is real. i am also not taking my eyes off of russia. they flew bomber missions near alaska. it was the first since 2014. russia continues to modernize exercises itsnd considerable conventional and nuclear forces in the pacific. so despite the region's four significant challenges, it is my last word to you that we strengthen alliances and partnerships, working with like-minded partners on shared security threats like north korea and isis is a key component of our regional strategy. the five bilateral treaty alliances, australia, japan the , republic of korea

>> they have militarized that the south china sea. e reality is that china has militarized the south china and i think -- maybe it is in the other graphic but if you look at a graphic you will see a 10,000 foot runway, weapons in place, fighter aircraft hangers in barracks for troops. it is not for rescuing fishermen they get lost out there. there. get lost out >> the trump administration is developing its own policies. i was supportive of secretary ofter's pronouncement flying, sailing and operating anywhere international law allows but the execution of that wasn't done rather -- was a done rahtether meekly. what principles should they be looking at? and when you look at this last chart, you see that it has not been militarized yet but it is very strategic and what would happen if that became militarized by china and what should we do to stop that militarization? should we draw a red line at that important geographic point in the south china sea? at, we should be looking with the new trump administration should be looking at in terms

china continues a strategy to control this t south china sea. i testified that china was militarized in this international waterway by building bases on seven chinese manmade islands. despite subsequent chinese assurances at the highest levels that they would not militarize that support long-range weapons. dmien's militarization is real. i'm also not taking my eyes off of russia. it is on success it days for the first time since 2014. russia continues to modernize and exercises conventional and nuclear forces in the pacific. despite the reasons for cig inform cant chal lens, since my last wort to you we strengthened alliances and partnerships chls working on shared security threats like north korea and isis is a key component of our regional strategy. our treaty alliances, japan, the republic of korea are joint force efforts. we have also advanced important partnerships they are viewed that has helped underwrite peace. there is more work to do. we must be ready to confront all challenges from a tradition of strength and with credible come back po

, any disputed features in particular in the south china sea. the critical thing to understand as both the vice president and i have observed, is the prosperity of everybody in this region and every nation has been underpinned by decades ,f peace and stability supported by the strong commitment of the united states to this region. that is why we so welcome the commitment of president trump's new administration. this is a historic visit. it underlies the importance of the american commitment to our region, the sheet anchor, the bedrock to peace and stability upon which the prosperity of billions depends. thank you all very much indeed. >> congress returns this week with a looming deadline for funding the federal government. members have until friday to pass a temporary spending bill to stop a potential government shutdown. we will get more details from a capital reporter. reporterappropriations lecall.

but i am concerned about china's bases in the south china sea. that complicates the anti access air, the now problem we face if we're called upon to conduct operations against china. >> great. i'll look forward to visiting with you in the classified setting. i yield back. thank you. >> mr. muscleton. >> thank you, mr. chairman. admiral, thank you very much for joining us here today. i was the gentleman who asked admiral -- vice chairman selva about the intermediate nuclear forces treaty, the treaty that president reagan signed in the mid 1980s with the soviet union. i wanted to start with that following on my colleague's questions. what has been our response to russia's violation of the treaty? >> sir, i don't know what our -- >> i'm not aware of a response, either. >> i know that someone brought it up. >> i'm not aware of any response, either. typically, when one party to a treaty violates the treaty, what do you try to do? you try to hold that party accountable. so there are other options than simply with drawing from the treaty ourselves, is th

i want to talk about the south china sea right now. when we talk about the economic relationship, we talk about free navigation of the sea. and in asia, so much trade goes through the south china sea from the world. right now they just want a smooth summit. we can only hope for the best as we move forward. the former us ambassador to the asia bank. among things on the agenda will be north korea. the us wants china to use its economic influence to curtail north korea's nuclear and missile development. the trade imbalance that we have been hearing about will also be discussed as barbara plett—usher, who was in mar—a—lago, explained to me earlier. he made it a campaign issue, is rallying cry, that there was this trade imbalance, that they manipulated currency, that they were dumping cheap goods on the market, that they had investment and tariff barriers. all of these things were stealing americanjobs. barriers. all of these things were stealing american jobs. this was sort of standard stuff during the campaign and quite hostile rhetoric.

i'm concerned about china's bases in the south china sea. that complicates the anti-access problem that we face if we are called upon to conduct operations against china. >> i look forward to visiting with you in the classified setting. i yelled back. thank you. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for joining us today. i would like to ask about the intermediate forces treaty. the treaty that president reagan signed in the mid-1980s with the soviet union. i wanted to start with that following on my colleagues questions. what has been our response to russia's violation of the treaty? >> sarah, i did not know - >> i am not aware of a response either. typically when one party to a treaty violates a treaty, what do try to do? you try to hold them accountable. so the other option simply is withdrawing from the treaty ourselves. is that right? >> right. >> have we thought about having such a treaty with china as well? >> i have not. and i'm not aware of the discussions that would bring china into either the existing treaty or a separate treaty wit

sea, japan. and arguably, china is not in that position, as well. engagement't think is necessarily completely wrong with north korea, but now is not the time. government, we were dealing with a progressive government in south korea. we fully respected the fact that they weren't engaging with north korea, but there is a right time and a wrong time for it. not just by u.s. policy preference, but by what would be deemed effective engagement. i think the previous government understood that, and i would imagine that the next government in south korea would, as well. quest -- let the me ask you all a question. there is skepticism that the chinese will apply economic pressure of a significant degree behavior.changes in variation on that, even if they did, do you believe the north korean regime would abandon their missile programs and nuclear programs? >> i do not believe that to be the case. i believe the north korean regime will continue to persist with its nuclear program because it sees that as indispensable to its own survival. and i do not believe ch

-china relations is the escalation of tension in the east and south china seas. china's actions in the east china sea are contrary to international law, posing an increased risk of future conflict and necessitate a strong u.s. and regional response. their actions seem at odds with their words. china has declared an illegitimate air defensic zone in the east china sea and has dramatically expanded its land reclamation activities in the south china sea and has added a military element to it. since 2013 according to the department of defense be, china has reclaimed over 3,200 acres of artificial features in the south china sea. on july 12, 2016, an international tribunal in the hague ruled that china violated the sovereignty in the philippines. since 2015, china has also built facilities with potential military uses on the artificial islands including three airstrips, two more than 10,000 feet long and one nearly,000 feet long. hangars that request shelter jet fighters, antiair craft batteries and structures that could house surface-to-air missiles. this last week th

but they can't be the measure of our strategy in the south china sea. freedman navigation is important to reserve but it can't be the entire strategy. we need to think about the long game and that goes back to the maritime security and capacity issues that we have. we need a real regional diplomatic strategy so that the ash tral tribunal ruling has effect. opportunity last year with the that is where we missed a huge opportunity last year with the ruling and not really pursuing a real diplomatic effort at the regional level. we backed off, tried to cool the waters. which was important at the time, but we never really followed through with an actual diplomatic game. >> i think we need to do three other things. the first is, we need to conduct front operations at the discretion of the bay comcommander. i don't think they should be centrally controlled from washington. that gets you to where you want, regular unpublicized and so on and so forth. we need to stay away from innocent passage. the moment you talk about innocent passage, you are reaffirming a pa

there are other issues with china, tensions of the south china sea, the north korea issue, cyber security. for president trump to start with the trade issue signals exactly what president trump is trying to signal, that his administration is all about jobs first, that they are going to prioritize that in negotiations with other country. host: and the battle in the senate over neil gorsuch, both by the judiciary committee tomorrow and a full senate vote on friday. will we see a swearing in of the new supreme court justice by the end of this week or early next week? guest: that is difficult for me to say, although the republicans picked up support from a couple of centrist moderate democrats over the past few days, which would make it likely that, one way or another, courses will get nominated. gorsuch will get nominated. the question is whether senate majority leader mitch mcconnell will have to invoke the to geted nuclear option to the actual vote on the nomination. there is a president for senators -- there is a prece dent, so we'll see how far democrats take this. i expect by the end of

thing could be, of course, that there could be some compromise between the two in terms of the south china seaa wants to have a stronger presence in. let's talk about the space race, i am skipping over theresa may, because we will talk about her again. jeff bezos, it might have been known thing he was really into space, but he is really going for it. he is putting his own money into the pot, a bit like richard branson and elon musk. he is a very rich man. he is selling $1 billion of amazon stock every year to finance that project. is it a good business move? i would doubt it. we have seen richard branson at virgin trying to get something in the space and we have seen delay after delay. we have seen some have seen delay after delay. we have seen some of his aircraft crash, so i guess in the end it is still a very untested proposition. i guess in the end it is still a very untested propositionm i guess in the end it is still a very untested proposition. it is a big risk but if one of these billionaires gets it right, personal travel to space, it has huge rewards. there is also strong competition

are required to deal with, and there are serious questions of trade investment, north korea, south china sea on the agenda. but we also get an opportunity for these two leaders just to start getting the measure of each other, starting to get to know you. and politics, and you are the season veteran, -- seasoned theran, politics is not pomp and circumstance. it is about the folks, leadership, and to some extent it is national interest and whether i can do business with you. whether i like you, whether i have respect for you. so that is why "first up, all other results to one side of , donald trump is spending a day and a half with the chinese president, i think it is a good thing. president xi has decided to make the trip, which is a good thing. charlie: the president will make the case as he has articulated during the campaign, through the transition, and since, that he thinks china is not playing on a level playing field. he made that argument, and that was a central part of his campaign. does he have a point? kevin: absolutely. you simply look at the scope of the trade deficit. china expor

thati5 change, countries such as china sea that is possible and the anti—5en5e can leapfrog somets per capita emissions of carbon dioxide and we are emissions of carbon dioxide and we a re lower emissions of carbon dioxide and we are lower than britons, it would have to go through the same sort of macro three and gas era that britain and other european countries had to go three so the trend in china is remarkable and that is the reason really by the last three years we have seen global carbon dioxide emissions flat even as the global economy has grown by about seven or 8% so we are starting to see what economists have long thought might be possible which is a kind of decoupling from what has previously been a rise in global carbon dioxide emissions as we have seen a growth in the global economy. thank you. sarah i5 is on the balcony and i think she has some news about the weather. this was the scene on saturday taken bya this was the scene on saturday taken by a weather watcher in warwick5hire. plenty of sunshine there, but the clear skies mean we have quite a chilly night tonigh

there are other issues with china, the tensions in the south china sea. there's the north korea issue. there is cybersecurity. and for president trump to start right out of the gate with the trade issue signals, i think, exactly what president trump is trying to signal, that his administration is all about jobs first and that they're going prioritize that in the relations with other countries. host: and finally, the battle in the senate, as we said at the top of the program, will be over neil gorsuch, a vote by the judiciary committee tomorrow. a full senate vote on friday. will we see a swearing-in of the new supreme court justice by the end of this week or early next week? guest: well, that's difficult for me to say, although the republicans picked up a couple of centrist moderate democrats over the past few days, which would make it likely that one way or another, by hook or by crook, gorsuch will get nominated. the question is whether senate majority leader mitch mcconnell will have to invoke the so-called nuclear option in getting past that 60-vote t

and the south china sea. more than $1.3 trillion worth of imports and exports pass through that sea every year. and the u.s. and china have clashed over military access. and finally, there's the issue of the one china policy. president trump threatened to reverse that decades-old tradition, but ultimately changed course and didn't reverse it. let's talk about all of these issues for tomorrow's summit. no one better to talk with us than matt baucus. he's the former u.s. ambassador to china, as well as a former democratic senator from montana. mr. ambassador, thanks so much for being with us. i guess i could let you choose which of those issues you want to tackle first, but i think north korea is probably the one, wouldn't you agree, that is sort of front zmer right now for these two leaders. and how do they sit together and come up with something? >> north korea is critical, but frankly, the overarching main point is, this is probably president trump's most important summit he'll ever have during his protest.

they thought they would push south into the china sea and before anybody knows it we will have expands our role and range down into the south china scene. now here is north korea drag the their cans back in there with forcstructure. if we renuclearize the south and re-enforce the fad position and put fad in japan, this will undo a lot of the work the chinese have been patiently doing the last 10 years. charles: captain nash, stay with us. david, everyone has got a lot at stake right now. and again it's tough for me to fathom north korea blinking too much because this is what they export. this is how they flex their muscle. for someone who is a third generation dictator to say be a regular citizen of the world when you have nothing else to offer, i'm not sure it many going to work. >> i agree with you. the main leverage north korea has is its nuclear weapons program. the conversation you just had was fascinating with respect to focusing on china and whether china can play a leadership role in resolving this crisis. we shared strong words from the chinese president. but he also seems to

required to deal with, and there are serious questions of trade, investment, north korea, south china sea on the agenda, but it will also be an opportunity for these two leaders just to start getting a measure of each other, start to getting to know you. in politics, charlie, and you're the seasoned veteran here, my friend, politics and international politics, at the end of the day, ain't all that complicated. it's about folks, people, relationships and it's, to some extent, about national interests, and to some extent it's about whether i can do business with you and whether i like you, whether i've got some respect for you. so i think that's why, first up, all other results to one side of mar-a-lago, the fact that, early in president trump's administration, he's spending a day and a half or whatever it is with the chinese president, i think is a good thing. it's a good thing that president xi has decided to make the trip over as well. >> rose: clearly trump, the president, will make the case, as he has articulated during the campaign, during the transition and since, you know, that he t

. >> in connection with china territorial claims in the south china sea and east china sea, obama administration policy was essentially prayer. they could negotiate with china as equals that would never happen, our naval present diminish our ability to maintain these are international waters and they are not going to be allowed to become a chinese lake, that disappeared. president trump has to up press that a pressimp impress that as well. so these issues are call coming up along with the huge increase in china's military capability, you mentioned its budget has increased dramatically, and ours has fallen, it is more of an increase than we think, lookingal for example pay of a chinese servicemember compared to american servicemember. it hardly even comparable, law budget figes understates the increase in china's capacity in last 10 years. cheryl: i wish i could be a fly on the wall tonight at their dinner, the chinese are biggest holders of american debt, i am out of time but you will be back on to talk about this. thank you so much, it was great to have you tonight. >> thank you. cheryl: ambass

these are vietnamese protesters unhappy about chinese expansionism in the south china sea.t may be talked about, but it is not central to concerns today, where the focus is on trade and north korea. jon sopel is on trade and north korea. jon sopel, bbc news, palm beach, florida. president xijinping likes to play the strong man. every appearance choreographed, every meeting scripted. he does not do risky blind dates. but in florida he hopes to seize the day and shake president trump's china policy so that it suits them. last time president xijinping that it suits them. last time president xi jinping visited the us, he made the point that companies like boeing earn good money in china. but with economic growth slowing at home he cannot afford a trade war with his biggest market. and he will have to offer help for us exports and jobs. he can promise enormous investments in the deprived areas of the united states. and in a sense allow president trump to claim that he is bringing jobs back from china to the united states. 9096 of north korea's trade goes through china, which doe

north korea, the south china sea, but focusing on trade. ign talk that we heard from president trump, branding china a currency manipulator, slapping it with punitive tariffs, none of this has happened. they still have the rest of the net to get through, let's wait and see what happens. —— rest of the night. at the tone has changed a great deal before the meeting and now when they are meeting face—to—face. just look at the peak is of that historic handshake. everyone waiting to see offcou rse handshake. everyone waiting to see offcourse what kind of camaraderie the two men will build. it is arguably the most important political relationship in the entire world. on the face of it everything seems to be quite congenial. mr trump speaking at dinner earlier this evening has even set that china and the us, the two men, are going to have a very great relationship. he was using his fabulous word "g reat" yet he was using his fabulous word "great" yet again. when they sit down and have the conversations, high up on the agenda is the trade deficit. l

finally in this read out they discuss the south china sea. ssively built up artificial islands over the past several years, militarized those islands much to the dismay of the united states. both sides are saying we'll work together to resolve our differences. very diplomatic. one sticking point has been the deployment of an anti-missile defense system in south korea to counter the north korean threat. china has been very, very upset about that but we're hearing from the south koreans that president trump actually had a 20-minute phone call local time saturday morning with the acting president of south korea and in that phone called said he reiterated to president xi that the united states would move forward with that deployment, they are sticking to their line there and that's very for the u.s. overall very diplomatic meeting, something very different than what many were expecting for the first meeting between these two men. >> we didn't talk much about it. has to be said with that surprise u.s. strike in syria. there's always that touchy sub

of course the south and east china sea are as well.t has been a little quiet lately, but at the same time, that could always flare up, we always have india and pakistan and south asia. there are a lot of potential hotspots. economically, asia is doing reasonably well. politically, there are a few worries. david: do you think the meeting went well between president trump? it is wishful thinking, but if the u.s. and china are on one be able we may actually to take those and put them in the backseat. mark: we will solve all the trade problems in the next hundred days. the investment problems. that's what they agreed to do. i'm not sure with that means, but it shows an acceleration. it was talked about, it certainly did not come up to we talked about the south and east china sea. we talked about syria. we tucked about a lot of other issues. it is not clear if those came up to probably because there was distraction. because of the attack on syria, i expect that was a benefit for xi, any deny have to talk as much as he wanted to. it seems th

. >> out of the issues, taiwan, trade and investment, the south china sea, what else? north korea, currency manipulation. out of those issues, is there one that will test the relationship? >> the geopolitical stuff, whether it's the south china sea, north korea or taiwan, that is the long-term geopolitical risk. as everyone is focused on trade, and how that will affect individual sectors. so it might affect the clothing sector, or it might affect the steel sector. we think the big risk is on currency. at the moment you have the renminbi and u.s. dollar managed against each other in order to stop a big depreciation in the currency. stabilize, you know, capital flows between the two countries. if that doesn't continue and you have labeling currency manipulator or disagreement between the two sides, that disagreement -- that agreement breaks down, then the potential for destabilizing capital flows, currency risks, devaluation becomes the biggest problem. that will affect everyone. >> the optics going into the meeting, they look better. the chinese yuan is trading higher v

the south china sea is a key point.member going back to president reagan and his quote about trust. each side says, but you look at what they do. from the chinese side they will evolving tradee policy and economic policy. from the u.s. side they will look at the other key issue, which is north korea. the chinese in the past said they would make efforts with other key friend and partner, north korea, to moderate that nation's behavior. that has not happened. how can the united states trust with the chinese are saying? this goes back to the importance of this meeting. each side will get a sense of the other side. a critical question after these summits, what happens on the ground. let's focus what is happening on the ground. statement,heard that read that statement from rex tillerson that after the ballistic missile was launched, it was a very odd statement. we know this happened in the u.s. has said enough on it and we have nothing more to say. people looked at that statement and said, what does it mean? do they not know

president trump noted the importance of adherence to international norms in the east and south china seas and previous statements on non-militarization. he also noted the importance of protecting human rights and other values deeply held by americans. the two presidents agreed to elevate existing bilateral talks to reflect the importance of making progress on issues. they established a new, high-level framework for negotiations. the u.s.-china conference of dialogue will be overseen by the two presidents, and it will have four pillars. the diplomatic and security dialogue, the copperheads of economic dialogue, the law enforcement and cyber security dialogue, and the social and cultural issues dialogue. the two sides agreed to undertake an ambitious agenda and schedule to show progress and achieve meaningful results. president trump welcomed president xi's invitation to visit china for a state visit at a future date. they agreed to work together in the interim to achieve successful results. with that, i would like to turn it to secretary treasury mnuchin. sec. mnuchin: we had a meeting thi

chinese ambitions in the south china sea have again featured in president trump's thinking in recentn being that chinese ambitions in that part of the world have not only troubled the united states in recent times but have troubled some of china's near neighbours as well, japan, south korea, malaysia, the philippines have all made statements about their concerns in that area. that might well be raised. that issue of taiwan as well. much was made of president trump's decision to phone the taiwanese leader after he got into the white house and the difficulties that caused fleetingly between washington and beijing. the president pausing for the cameras on a sunny if slightly breezy day at palm beach airport. we will leave that scene. in a moment, plenty more in100 that scene. in a moment, plenty more in 100 days throughout the evening here on bbc news on events in florida. hello and welcome to 100 days. the leaders of the world's two biggest powers meet in florida. there's not much love lost but they have urgent issues to deal with. the president has long cast china as the villain for s

what, in your view, should our response to china's militarization of the south china sea be? >> we will have to put together a policy put together by the state department, treasury, dod. we will have to integrate this so we are not dealing with an incomplete or incoherent strategy. the bottom line is the international waters, we have to figure out how we deal with holding onto the rules we have made over the years that led to prosperity for many nations. not just ours. >> you have emphasized, i think rightfully so, our allies as a key strategic element of u.s. national security. what role should they be playing? >> my view is that you always want more allies with you then fewer. i have never gone into any fight in an all-american formation. also i believe that allies can be a deterrent and -- to those who may disrupt the global order. >> the u.s. has lost credibility internationally where our adversaries no longer fear us and our allies no longer trust us. perhaps the most glaring example of that is iranian actions in the persian gulf, taking sailors hostage. i want to finish

we don't talk about south china sea and taiwan. we go to beijing and ask for cooperation. that creates bargaining chips for chinese. on the short-term, that is how leaders in china think. this is really good for china. >> david sanger, to the subject of your piece this morning. the president watches cable news. he sees the images. anybody with a heart is going to be affected by them. now there's different talk than decidedly what was said days earlier about syria. could the same thing happen during the two days with the chinese leader? >> it could. i think where we're headed in syria and russia is something more akin to american policies. you could see that happen in china's case as well. in the case of china, you have a new leader in president trump going up against a now fairly seasoned leader in president xi. i think gordon had it exactly right when he made the point that to president xi, north korea is useful as a buffer and distraction away from the trade issues and south china sea. what does that mean to president trump? he has to try to layout to president xi as conv

we need china to work on north korea, we're staying out of their hair, the north china sea, they likeged in as many messages around the world address possible. what does this mean for president trump's plan to confront the massive trade deficit with china? >> it pushes it back. he campaigned on that and will continue to talk about that, but the main reason why you did not see much media build up to the summit, you saw very few headlines, there's a major break in the team between those who think you have to engage with china in ord toer to have forei movement. incredible tensions, no decision on it, but this will contribute -- this will be a major factor into the rethinking they'll be doing. >> the view in china of president trump, both coming up to the last 24 hours and with this add development of military action. do people across china respect him? do they think he's antagonistic? what is the general view of president trump in china? >> i don't think they know yet. coming up to the election, people knew hillary. they didn't like hillary. trump, there were opinions all over the scale

you have china flexing its muscles in the south china sea. ung, korea, kim jun threatening his neighbors and also the united states. you need someone to restore national order. but united do that states? power states is the only with the global reach. so that's why. said before, if the u.s. retreats from that role, you and leave behind a vacuum the bad guys in the situation. didn't sident obama sad crossed the red lines. putin has stepped in and has facts on the grounds that has made a solution much difficult now. guest: david is calling in from smiths grove kentucky on our democratic line. david. caller: hey, how you doing in i've always admired you. i've watched you for years on tv, and i think we need people pragmatic at have views of the world and russia europe. i just wanted to ask, how did view untries of europe trump and also, what are the military capabilities of nato? thank you. guest: first, on trump, well, i to say that in europe, it crisis in h like the the united states. of course, people are divided on a lot of there's skepticis

win the election because he was worried that hillary clinton would be really tough on the south china seabody's surprise, trump did win and now he's stuck with somebody who is deeply unpredictable. the chinese are nervous that if trump causes problems with relations with mexico and australia, how might he react to china and xi jinping has a party congress enormously important to him. he wants everything in florida to go very smoothly. >> why is this meeting happening at mar-a-lago and not 1600 pennsylvania avenue? >> i think informality of m mar-a-lago is attractive to the chinese. if you come to washington, is it a state visit? all of the pomp and circumstance. i think the casual nature of this is actually potentially useful. and having the leaders actually get to know each other. i think that behind the low expectations, there is genuine complexity here because these are two very strong-willed leaders. they both have significant political constituencies that they need to communicate to. they will want to show that they can get along and potentially get things done but each one will resi

while china was here, they have been expand in the south china sea.y had international protests. this gives us a position now to walk in with the little bit more authority and negotiate a better outcome. i think this was a relatively small thing when you look at the threats around the world, but a very important statement. not just to bashar al assad and the russians, but the rest of the world as well. >> interesting perspective. phil, do you agree this could actually tam actually tamp down something rather than ramp it up? >> absolutely. i don't see it as that significant yet. it could shift. the reason i see this as mode modestly significant is because we are not talking about taking out bashar al assad. after six years of civil war with 400,000 people dead, we respond with one incident with less than five minutes of strikes on one airfield. if you are in russia, you are saying this is not a game changer yet until i talk to rex tillerson on tuesday and see if there are more serious implications. they will talk about safe zones? will they talk about

intellectual property and take advantage of trade agreements and express aggression themselves at the china sea: that's 180-degree turn from what the president was saying two weeks about china and russia. >> it is, 180-degrees and from my perspective it's a welcome turn. there's flip-flopping and flip-flopping, what we are seeing here an evolution. we are watching the president navigate the russian relationship in real-time and i think he's learning very quickly on this very steep learning curve that dealing with vladimir putin as a potential sort of businessman is very different than dealing with him as a foreign head of state. that's what we are seeing. chris: when we come back the game of thrones inside the west-wing continues and thousands of people march across the country demanding to see president trump's tax returns i'm phil mickelson, pro golfer. my psoriatic arthritis caused joint pain. just like my moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. and i was worried about joint damage. my doctor said joint pain from ra... can be a sign of existing joint damage... that could only get worse. he

china's leaders have stated they are not militarizing the south china sea. you agree with them? i do not. >> yesterday, rex tillerson said that we should prohibit access to the chinese. what, in your view, should our response to china's militarization of the south china sea be? >> we will have to put together a policy put together by the state department, treasury, dod. we will have to integrate this so we are not dealing with an incomplete or incoherent strategy. the bottom line is the international waters, we have to figure out how we deal with holding onto the rules we have made over the years that led to prosperity for many nations. not just ours. you have emphasize, i think rightfully so, our allies as a key strategic element of u.s. natural -- national security. what role should they be playing? >> my view is that you always want more allies with you then fewer. i have never gone into any fight with an all-american formation. also i believe that allies can -- to thosent and who may disrupt the global order. >> the u.s. has lost credibility internationally where our adversa

question the one china policy, second tillerson made a number of statements about blow cading the south china sea islands. they threatened to name china a currency manipulator on day one of the administration, threatened 45% tariffs. it's been a much more accommodating stands at this point and backing off from some of those harsher positions that came out of the campaign. but trade is still front and center. and there are real issues on trade between the united states and china. there is a large trade deficit between china and the united states but the real focusing i think should be on access for investment and u.s. companies and the treatment of u.s. companies. but you make the poant on the security side, the most important security challenge in asia right now is north korea. and that has to be front, that has to be front and center for president xi and president trump. we need to have i think an intensified focus and approach. secretary tillerson in asia recently as you know, charlie, said that the approaches of the last couple of administration have failed to achieve national goals. that's tr

then the issue of chinese military expansion in the south china sea. it's made all the more important by the fact that the president of the philippines has now sent his military to occupy all of the philippine owned islands in that area. and one particular island in what's called the spratly island chain that is claimed by a number of different countries, including china. that's only going to add to the tensions here. one thing i'm told they are not going to talk about in this inaugural meeting is the president's threat of heavy trade tariffs against china. he was talking about 35% being slapped onto chinese goods being imported into the united states. they're not going to talk about that. that's for a future negotiation. melissa? >> melissa: john, i don't know if you know about this, but the china, very popular in china. she is known as the kate middleton. a chinese folk singer and major general in the chinese army. she's hugely popular. we saw her just briefly there getting into the car. if you look online and elsewhere, she's a big topic of conversa