Transcript of Press TV, Iran interview on delivery of U.S. tanks to Taiwan

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PressTV: 0:00
Gilbert Doctor is an independent international affairs analyst who joins us from Brussels. Welcome. So the fact that this has not happened in quite some time, this delivery of this type of equipment, the Abraham tanks, what do you think it means in terms of the timing?

Gilbert Doctorow, PhD:
Well, this is in keeping with what the United States is doing in Ukraine in the final days of the Biden administration. The Biden administration is preparing complications in relations with China, which will pass then to Trump, and perhaps in the hope that they will keep him so busy in international affairs, turning back the mess that they're leaving with him, that they won't have a chance to implement his domestic policies, which are very much against what Biden has been doing for the last four years.

0:54
This delivery of the tanks is a complication on the already-simmering hostilities between China and the United States over the visit to the US by the Taiwanese president, that just took place and which provoked China to implement the biggest military exercises around Taiwan and in the South China and East China Seas that we have seen in decades. Therefore, we can expect there will be a strong and robust Chinese response to this latest complication, this latest provocation.

PressTV: 1:38
Are we going to see a more ramped-up effort by the US when Trump comes in, in terms of what conflict is brewing, so to speak, between the US and China over that issue on Taiwan?

Doctorow:
There is a lot of conflicting interpretation, both in major media and in alternative media in the States and in Western Europe, over how Mr. Trump will conduct himself. If you listen to his words, his words are tough and indicative of a policy of prioritizing conflict with China over all other international disputes or problems the United States is involved in around the world.

2:20
However, the other side of the story is that he may have gathered under his tent all of those very aggressive anti-Chinese and anti-Russian politicians who have prominence in the States. He's gathered them into one room, all of them reporting to him, with the intent to beat them up and to remove from the public space these very loud-mouthed critics.

PressTV: 2:51
Okay, it looks like we have lost Gilbert Doctorow. That was Gilbert Doctorow speaking to us, independent affairs analyst there.