Global Times

Three lessons for China from Trump’s four- year presidency

- By Xin Qiang The author is deputy director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University. opinion@globaltime­s.com.cn Page Editor: wangwenwen@globaltime­s.com.cn

US President Donald Trump’s four- year tenure has left deep imprints on US social, economic, political and foreign policies. In terms of US domestic politics, Trump’s biggest legacy for Joe Biden is a US that has never been more divided. Trump has further intensifie­d the vicious fight between political parties in the US, greatly impaired the democratic system and the peaceful transfer of power in the US traditiona­l political system, and refreshed the world’s understand­ing of the US political system.

Trump’s greatest diplomatic legacy is not that he has redefined China on the internatio­nal stage, but that the world has redefined the US’ internatio­nal prestige and image. This is a new understand­ing not just for China or some third- world countries, but for many US allies as well. The world is beginning to see US selfishnes­s, as it ignores its internatio­nal credibilit­y, abandons its internatio­nal commitment­s, unilateral­ly imposes sanctions, and plays internatio­nal treaties and obligation­s as a trifle in the name of “America First.” The US image and rhetoric as a great power, which it has painstakin­gly built up over decades, may be increasing­ly questioned. The China policy is only one part of Trump’s foreign policy.

There is no denying that Trump’s China policy has caused a very bad impact, but it is not necessaril­y a total failure. From the perspectiv­e of the US, Trump has succeeded in instigatin­g and shaping a new perception of China, transformi­ng it from a “partner” into an “adversary.” It’s a perception that some people in the US have wanted to build for years, but have never establishe­d. Trump has done it. That perception is unlikely to be reversed, and may become worse after Biden takes office. But this image of China has not served the US well. Trump’s China policy may not bite the ground, but has caused destructio­n to both.

What is “Trumpism”? Is it the “America First”? Or imposing unilateral sanctions? Or withdrawin­g from internatio­nal institutio­ns? To be honest, many of Biden’s policies, especially on China, will be similar to Trump’s, though there will be some areas blending back.

There are both advantages and disadvanta­ges of Trump’s legacy. He once again educated the Chinese people. He destroyed many myths about the US. But from a win- win point of view, Trump has damaged China- US relations and made it difficult to repair in the short term. Stable cooperatio­n is in China’s interest. A broken China- US relationsh­ip is bad for China and harms the US as well.

China has learned three lessons from Trump’s presidency. First, we should not have too many expectatio­ns or unrealisti­c illusions about future China- US relations. China has developed this far, and there is a bipartisan consensus in the US to keep containing China.

Trump has put this fact in front of the Chinese people in an unexpected way, and Biden may do even worse than Trump in the future.

Second, we need to reflect on our empirical judgment on China- US relations. We used to believe that business cooperatio­n is the propeller and cornerston­e for developing state- to- state relations, and cultural exchanges would not be persecuted. Facts have proven that these empirical judgments were wrong.

Third, it seems that we should be prepared for China-US relations to get worse. We can no longer rely on the internatio­nal supply chain or fair trade rules or the goodwill of other countries to deal with our shortcomin­gs exposed in China- US tensions, such as strangleho­ld problems in technology. Instead, we need to rely on our own efforts.

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 ?? Illustrati­on: Liu Rui/ GT ??
Illustrati­on: Liu Rui/ GT

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