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Welcome to The Adversarial. Every other week, we’ll provide you with expert analysis on America’s greatest challengers: China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and jihadists. Read more below.***ChinaEarly diplomatic exchanges between the Trump administration and Beijing appear to have delayed potential hardline U.S. presidential action regarding China, but underlying dynamics remain strained. A pre-inaugural phone call between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping covered TikTok, fentanyl, trade, and Taiwan. Shortly before Trump’s inauguration, TikTok resumed service in the United States, crediting Trump for allowing the service to resume after a short shutdown after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a divestment order. Also, the Trump administration delayed expected tariffs on Chinese goods until at least Feb. 1. China’s vice president, Han Zheng, led the Chinese official delegation to the inauguration and held meetings with Vice President J. D. Vance and businessman Elon Musk, broadening China’s relationships with key advisors to Trump. Meanwhile, Xi held a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss a multipolar global order, while Trump threatened tariffs on Russia via social media if the war in Ukraine continues.China is continuing an active mix of dialogue and demonstrations of hard power in the region. Both China, on one side, and the United States and the Philippines, on the other, recently held consecutive military exercises in the South China Sea following bilateral talks between Beijing and Manila amid continued tensions over the Second Thomas Shoal. The Chinese military continued its military modernization by commissioning a next-generation frigate, the Luohe, with purported advanced capabilities. Also, a Chinese military delegation from the Eastern Theater Command traveled to Japan for a rare week of exchanges on tensions in the East China Sea.President Donald Trump and Xi Jinping meet at the G20 in 2017. Image via Wikimedia Commons.IranOver the last several weeks, long-marginalized reformist politicians in