Obama Blames Trump For China’s Rise

Way off in the Land Down Under, former President Barack Obama blamed his White House successor Donald Trump for China’s increasingly antagonistic behavior.Obama talked foreign policy during a paid speaking tour appearance Tuesday in Sydney — part of a lucrative arrangement that reportedly could net him upwards of $1 million.In talking with former Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop, Obama said Chinese leader Xi Jinping has a “forceful and confident” demeanor, according to reporting by Daily Mail Australia and NCA Newswire.[embedded content]The Democrat said China began to change “once I left office” in 2017 when Trump entered the White House following his victory over Obama’s preferred candidate Hillary Clinton.“With my successor coming in, I think he saw an opportunity because the U.S. president didn’t seem to care that much about a rules-based international system,” Obama said of Xi.“And so as a consequence, I think China’s attitude as well, we can take advantage of what appears to be a vacuum internationally on a lot of these issues,” Obama said.Even as he worked to strike a deal, Trump waged a trade war against China during his four years in office, which included steep tariffs on imports in what he said was an effort to reverse a deficit that disadvantaged the United States. In Trump’s stated view, it was his predecessors, including Obama, who allowed China to become so powerful.“They took advantage of us for many, many years,” Trump told Fox News host Steve Hilton in 2019. “And I blame us, I don’t blame them. I don’t blame President X …