Sir — Without adopting a confrontationist attitude, China quietly returned the underwater drone which was seized by it from the South China Sea to the US. Beijing did not even try to justify its seizure on the ground that the US Navy intruded into Chinese territorial water.
Soon after winning the US presidential election, Donald Trump rang his counterpart in Taiwan. without caring about the ‘One China’ policy followed by the US until now. This gave him an aura of unpredictability, which China could not assess properly.
After all, the US is still the number one in terms of military power in the world and Trump is known for his rashness. So, Beijing could not afford to dilly-dally with the release of the US marine drone.