China ‘not dreading’ Trump 2.0, but reforms will decide who wins big power game
US-China ties to ‘get rockier’, Chinese political scientist Yan Xuetong warns, but also sees Trump term benefiting China ‘in several ways’
China is “not dreading” Donald Trump’s return to the White House and might actually benefit in several ways despite fears of “rockier” times ahead, a noted Chinese political scientist has said.
This would also determine whether China could narrow the “power gap” with the United States, Yan wrote in an article for Foreign Affairs on Friday.
03:12
Chinese leader Xi tells US President Biden he is ‘ready to work’ with Donald Trump
The relationship was going to “get rockier” over the next four years, Yan warned, with the US president-elect’s rhetoric and cabinet choices showing a resolve to double down on the hardline approach towards China seen during his first term in office.
Still, China had “learned a great deal” from his first stint, giving it the confidence to face any tensions during the second Trump administration, Yan argued, while all but ruling out the likelihood of a military clash.
“[Trump] will soon arrive in the White House with the intention of containing China, but Chinese leaders are not dreading his return,” he wrote.
With less than a month to go for Trump’s inauguration on January 20, China-US relations are widely expected to enter a new period of uncertainty. Much of the rest of the world is also bracing for the return of Trump and his “America first” agenda to the Oval Office.
