Selected excerpts of article published in the South China Morning Post in April 2018.

Recent US foreign policy initiatives led by Trump’s National Security Advisor John Bolton corroborate the statements of Lawrence Wilkinson, former chief of staff of Colin Powell.

Both John Bolton and Mike Pompeo are prepared to risk a military conflict involving the use of nuclear weapons with Russia and China. 

According to the SCMP:

Bolton would use military force to coerce compliance from China, which US President Donald Trump has painted as an adversary, the Post was toldThe new US national security adviser is willing to risk a military conflict with China to achieve President Donald Trump’s goals for America, two former senior US officials have told the South China Morning Post. 

John Bolton, who is fond of quoting the ancient Roman battle philosophy, “If you want peace, prepare for war”, would use military force to coerce compliance from China – which an increasingly hawkish White House has painted as a competitor, if not an adversary, the former officials who worked with Bolton said in interviews. (…)

Lawrence Wilkerson, who was chief of staff to former US Secretary of State Colin Powell, told the Post he doubted Trump would tolerate Bolton’s disagreeing with him at any point, in light of the bad endings that have come to Trump’s relationships with White House officials who have questioned the president’s past actions on trade, foreign policy and other issues.

However, “if Trump surprises me and does warm to Bolton, we are all in trouble – from North Korea to China,” Wilkerson said.

A major witness during Bolton’s Senate UN ambassadorship hearing in 2005, Wilkerson has labelled Bolton “the most dangerous American” for US foreign security policy.

Bolton’s views on ending the North Korean nuclear crisis are already well-known. He has advocated launching a pre-emptive strike on North Korea over its threat to use nuclear weapons against the US.

It is unclear what Bolton’s endgame for China would be.

It remains unclear now whether an aggressive Bolton could work with his new colleagues on the president’s national security team, including incoming Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defense James Mattis.

When Mattis met Bolton in late March at the Pentagon, he was captured in an off-microphone exchange saying [jokingly]: “I heard you’re actually the devil incarnate.”

To read complet SCMP article click here