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Opinion | Like Cixi, Trump has made the mistake of declaring an ill-advised war
Soon after the empress dowager declared war on foreign powers in 1900, the Qing dynasty collapsed. Trump’s tariffs reflect the same delusion
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A viral political cartoon circulating in China shows US President Donald Trump dressed in the imperial robes of the Qing dynasty. He is likened to Empress Dowager Cixi, who in 1900 effectively declared war on the Western powers in China, a disastrous move that helped accelerate the collapse of imperial China.
To many Chinese observers, the cartoon is a warning: Trump, in launching his latest damaging round of tariffs, seems trapped in a tragic and ill-advised Game of Thrones, fuelled by outdated assumptions about America’s industrial might and global dominance.
Some worry that today’s world is feeling eerily similar to the pre-World War II era of escalating tariffs, with economic aggression eventually spilling over into military conflict. It’s anyone’s guess which nation the United States might go to war with next: Yemen? Iran? Somewhere in Africa or Latin America? The Falkland Islands? Perhaps Heard Island and McDonald Islands? Are the penguins there ready to rebuff US Marines?
One thing is for certain, in my opinion: it won’t be China.
Why? Not because China lacks resolve. Quite the opposite. China will never yield to the US on any issue of core interest. But Beijing does not seek confrontation. It merely prepares for it.
On a January 17 phone call with Trump, three days before his inauguration, Chinese President Xi Jinping emphasised that as two major powers with different systems, the US and China must manage disputes through mutual respect and dialogue. Xi warned that conflict and confrontation should not be the path forward. These were not empty words: they reflect a consistent strategic approach.
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