China might look to what the U.S. is doing once in a while to make sure they are doing it too, but it's weird to expect that they are going to respond to the tone we set. And that's pretty much exactly what the talk of green lights sounds like.

But apparently rhetoric and posture are of great importance in geopolitics and I'm an idiot (because I'm pretty sure most of the rhetoric and posturing that happens in a geopolitical context is aimed domestically).