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Many Republicans swallow this astonishing debasement of their country's reputation, without visibly choking, on the grounds that it is necessary to concentrate US firepower on an expansionist communist China " above all to deter it from a move on Taiwan. If so, they will be humiliated again by Trump, who, to be fair, is characteristically transparent. During the election campaign he declared: "I want China to do great. I love China." But: "You know, Taiwan, they stole our business"" he meant microchip production. And Trump attacked the vibrant Chinese democracy because it doesn't "pay us for protection". As for Xi Jinping: "He's a brilliant guy. He controls 1.4 billion people with an iron fist." Trump had been entranced when the Communist Party ended term limits for the presidency, allowing Xi to rule indefinitely. "He's now president for life. And look, he was able to do that. I think that's great. Maybe we'll have to give it a shot someday." Watch this space.