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.
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.
