Alice Han

My own sense was that it was really the Doves who won the argument because they convinced Trump that he needed to have a good relationship in advance of a China trip.

But I'm very convinced as you talk, James, about this rare earths argument, because as I was reading it, I think many people have missed it.

In the Africa section, there is some description about securitizing supply chains of rare earths in Africa.

And I think that that, again, speaks to what you're saying, James, which is potentially the Trump administration is buying time.

And I similarly heard that for weapons-grade rare earths, so military applications of rare earths, it'll take three years.

But for the rest of the supply chain, at least five, maybe even up to 10 years for the U.S.

to have its own secured supply chain.

So as you speak, I'm more convinced by your argument, James, that it is a strategy of buying time.

But certainly, I think that it is a bit of a change from the Biden administration and Trump 1.0.

I'm not entirely convinced, and here I'm probably sitting on the fence, that this document is going to be the letter of the law when it comes to the Trump administration's approach to China.

I think a lot can happen in the next year or so.

But certainly, this has been a big shift, and it's worth people reading.

One last thing that I'll add is a section on Latin America.

There was a huge amount of attention paid to Latin America and the hemispheric defense approach to Trump's foreign policy.

Again, one line I think that's worth mentioning, and it might be a slight dig to China or a

is countering non-hemispheric influences in Latin America.

That could also be, I think, a pointed reference to China's trade and investment relationships in Latin America, not just Venezuela and keeping that regime afloat, but certainly other countries like Brazil or Argentina where there's significant amounts of trade that China is involved in.

So again, I think when you read between the lines, there are some references to China, but clearly from a PR standpoint,

The doves in the administration have won the argument, and they wanted to make this document less incendiary than it could have been, than it certainly had been in the first Trump administration.

James, how do you think the Chinese government is viewing this document?