Trump sought to capitalize on his reputation for confronting China in the elections.
Recently, Donald Trump has often argued that China supports Joe Biden in the November presidential election. In Beijing, however, officials came to support another four years of Trump.
Interviews with nine current and former Chinese officials indicate a change of sentiment in favor of the serving president, even though he has spent much of the past four years blaming Beijing for everything from US trade imbalances to Covid-19. The main reason? A belief that the benefits of the erosion of the postwar American alliance network would outweigh any damage done to China by persistent trade conflicts and geopolitical instability.
While officials feared that tensions between the U.S. and China would increase, no matter who was in the White House, they largely infiltrated camps of those who emphasized geopolitical gains and those who were concerned about trade relations. Biden, the former vice president, was seen as a traditional democrat who would seek to consolidate tattered multilateral relations of the United States and ease trade frictions.
“If Biden is elected, I think it could be more dangerous for China, because he will work with allies to target China, while Trump destroys American alliances,” said former Chinese trade negotiator and former representative Zhou Xiaoming. deputy in Geneva. Four current officials echoed this sentiment, saying that many members of the Chinese government believed that a Trump victory could help Beijing by weakening what they considered to be Washington’s greatest asset in controlling influence. growing from China.
The general assumption underlying their point of view was that nothing could be done to stop the slipping of relations between the two largest economies in the world. Thus, China needed to accelerate its efforts to develop high-end indigenous industries, develop in developing markets and seek opportunities to work with countries in Europe and Asia to counter any American isolation effort.
During Trump’s tenure, Beijing realized that opposition to China enjoys deep bipartisan support in an otherwise polarized Washington. The coronavirus epidemic, which was first discovered in the central city of Wuhan, has only hardened American views of Beijing.
‘Get worse’
“I don’t think the elections will fundamentally change the relationship. The deep feeling in the United States is that the United States should contain China,” said Zhou. “Whether Trump wins or Joe goes to Washington, things will get worse.”
Chinese officials, eager to avoid repeating their surprise when Trump upset former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016, have pressed U.S. contacts to find out who would win. Senior US business officials in Beijing say that the past few weeks have seen a sudden increase in awareness of well-connected Chinese friends who, in some cases, have not contacted them for years.
Although Republicans have traditionally focused on economic ties to China, Trump has moved the party in a more confrontational direction, challenging the country in virtually every area of the relationship, from China’s land claims to the sea of South China to trade, public health, human rights and technology. Democrats have largely supported these efforts, helping pass a law to support protesters in Hong Kong and give more military aid to Taiwan.
Even Biden, who had long supported an “engagement” strategy with China, adopted a harsher tone as the Democratic presidential primaries warmed up. In recent months, Biden has called President Xi Jinping “a thug,” hailed the “extraordinary bravery” of Democratic protesters in Hong Kong, and accused China of “predatory” trading practices. He called the mass detention of Uighur Muslims in the far west of Xinjiang “unreasonable”.
Although Chinese authorities continue to refrain from direct criticism of Trump, Internet censors have allowed critics tinged with U.S. nationalism to circulate online. A foreign diplomat said the Chinese foreign ministry was “combative” and “angry” with US officials.
“Trump has destroyed a lot of goodwill,” said Wang Huiyao, adviser to the Chinese cabinet and founder of the Center for China and Globalization. “At the start of the trade war, there were many people who were pro-American, but they now sympathize with the hardliners.”
Trump sought to capitalize on his reputation for confronting China in the elections, despite his first praise for Xi’s management of the coronavirus epidemic. In April, he told Reuters that “China will do everything it can to make me lose this race,” saying without proof that Beijing’s response to the virus was focused on the desire to see it lose in November.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry has reiterated its long standing position that it never seeks to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries. As a possible sign that the two sides are seeking to manage the conflicts of the election year, US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo was scheduled to meet with senior Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi in Hawaii on Tuesday, according to two people familiar with the plans.
Stability in the United States
A Chinese official said the election results did not matter because relations would not improve anyway. China’s best hope, they said, is that things are not getting any worse.
Some in Beijing question aloud about Trump’s long-term impact on US stability, noting rising coronavirus cases, protests against police discrimination and speculation about whether the election pandemic could end in chaos. “The United States as we know it may no longer exist,” said Gao Zhikai, a former Chinese diplomat and interpreter for Deng Xiaoping.
Trump’s “America First” policies have created similar friction in capitals that have always been more friendly to the United States as it charges tariffs on major trading partners, urges its allies. ‘increase their collective defense spending, withdraw from multilateral agreements and support the rupture of the United Kingdom. of the European Union. Chinese officials privately recognize that a Democratic administration could prove more formidable if it worked with allies to present a united front.
Even though a Biden presidency has proven more difficult for Beijing, two current Chinese officials have said it could open up more areas of cooperation such as re-establishing US participation in the Paris climate deal – then negotiated that he was vice president of former President Barack Obama.
“It supports work on topics like climate change, WTO reform and the TPP,” said Wang. “There are areas where we can cooperate.”
On a more personal level, some Chinese officials involved in trade negotiations with the Trump administration support Biden’s victory simply so that they can spend more time with their families, according to someone familiar with their thinking. China’s sales team is exhausted, said the person.
Both parties can find it difficult to escape the clash pattern, no matter who wins. Huawei Technologies Co. chief Meng Wanzhou is still being held in Canada pending a decision on an extradition request from the United States, while Beijing’s plan to impose security law on Hong Kong provoked outrage at Congress and questioned the countries’ “phase one” trade deal. .
“Nowadays, in China, people are more and more clear on the objectives of the United States,” said Zhou, the former Chinese representative in Geneva. “We have not yet reached the darkest hour of the relationship.”
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
