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US-China relations
Opinion

How Trump’s ‘America First’ approach can ease the great power rivalry with China

Zhang Baohui says Trump’s likely rejection of the traditional role of the US as a leader in international affairs would be welcome in Beijing and should lead to better Sino-US relations

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Zhang Baohui says Trump’s likely rejection of the traditional role of the US as a leader in international affairs would be welcome in Beijing and should lead to better Sino-US relations
Zhang Baohui
Trump’s more relaxed view towards great power rivalry should in theory lead to easier relations with Beijing. Illustration: Craig Stephens
Trump’s more relaxed view towards great power rivalry should in theory lead to easier relations with Beijing. Illustration: Craig Stephens
Donald Trump has managed to rattle Sino-US relations even before he assumes the presidency. His phone call with Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, triggered concerns that he could upset the fundamental rules of the Sino-US relationship. Not only that, he also tweeted criticism of China’s trade practices and island-building in the South China Sea, and appointed Peter Navarro, a known China critic, to head the newly created White House National Trade Council. All of these have stirred legitimate concerns about his administration’s handling of bilateral relations.

But before we jump to conclusions, we need a deeper understanding of Trump’s foreign policy. In fact, if we assess Trump’s likely China policy in the context of his views on the US role in the world, we would arrive at a brighter outlook for Sino-US ties.

Why Trump’s blunt approach will put US relations with China on surer footing

It is hard to believe that Trump – whose tweets seem to indicate a temperament ruled by impulse – has a grand strategy for US foreign policy. Indeed, pundits have portrayed him as clueless and poorly informed about foreign policy issues.
But Trump does have a coherent view of the US role in the world. His “America First” slogan is a repudiation of the traditional role of the US as a leader in international affairs. As the Brookings Institution’s Robert Kagan put it, the president-elect “has little interest in shouldering the burden of global order”. Indeed, during the election, Trump promised to end US military involvements overseas and repeatedly attacked Hillary Clinton’s internationalist foreign policy. He also suggested that allies should be responsible for their own security, instead of relying on the US.

Trumpian Absurdism and US-China relations

A US marine covers the head of a statue of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein with the US flag in 2003 in Baghdad, before the statue was pulled down, as the marines swept into the Iraqi capital and the Iraqi leader’s regime collapsed. Since the end of the second world war, the US has adopted a strategy of pursuing global primacy. Critics say it is risking an “imperial overstretch”. Photo: AFP
A US marine covers the head of a statue of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein with the US flag in 2003 in Baghdad, before the statue was pulled down, as the marines swept into the Iraqi capital and the Iraqi leader’s regime collapsed. Since the end of the second world war, the US has adopted a strategy of pursuing global primacy. Critics say it is risking an “imperial overstretch”. Photo: AFP

Trump’s disruptive effect, and a turning point for the US and beyond

Trump denies his approach is “isolationist”. Instead, a more accurate description of it is the “offshore balancing” strategy championed by prominent scholars such as John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago and Stephen Walt of Harvard University.

Proponents of this approach abhor the huge cost of the global primacy strategy the US has adopted since the end of the second world war. They ague that the US is risking an “imperial overstretch” with this approach, which will eventually lead to the relative decline of the country.

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