The four -year presidential election in the United States has now entered the fiery stage of the final sprint.The current President, Republican candidate Trump and Democratic candidate Biden are conducting the final ticket.As the previous presidential election, both candidates frequently played Chinese cards, for fear that the weakness of China would be revealed and lost votes.
From a historical point of view, the Republican Reagan and the Democratic Party of the Democratic Party will play a Chinese card. Both are known for their toughness in China during the election campaign, and they have won the election at the time.However, it is more and more milder. It can be seen that the words during the election are not necessarily linked to the policy after the election, but it has a lot to do with the results of the election.So, who will play the Chinese card more?
Trump's Chinese brand characteristics
On the surface, Trump seems to be better at playing Chinese cards. This part is due to his performance talent (he was the host of the American reality show), and it depends on his skilled use of Twitter social media.
Although he once said that Xi Jinping has a good relationship with the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, and is also willing to reach the first trading agreement with China in January 2020, as the coronary virus epidemic began to spread in the United States, and it was out of control.Pull engraved his face, not only accusing the coronary virus as a Chinese virus, but he believed that China initially concealed the report on the world, which led to the spread of the world, and then began on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, South China, and students in the United States.Tattoo is opposite, and he looks like an anti -Chinese fighter.
Not only that, Trump also publicly announced that China also hopes that his political opponent Biden is elected, because Bayeng and the Democrats represented by the Democratic Party are more weak to China; and Bayeng was in the time when he was Vice President of Obama, and he became China at the time in China.Xi Jinping's vice -President Xi Jinping has a lot of benign interaction. If Bayeng is elected, he may continue this intimate personal relationship.
From this perspective, Trump seems to be better at playing Chinese cards, and this feature is unusual for an current US president.For many years of diplomatic practice in the United States, it is often challengers in the wild in the election campaign, not the president who is in office.
The examples of Reagan and Clinton mentioned earlier were caused by their challenges of the then President Carter and Bush, and they both defeated the two presidents who pursued a gentle China policy at the time.Generally speaking, in any challenger in any president, he knows the complexity of policies for China than in the wild, so his views are relatively mild.It can be seen from this that Trump is an unusual US president.
However, even if Trump is now playing Chinese cards, if he is successfully re -elected, it is still doubtful whether he will continue to adopt a tough policy for China.
From the historical record, if the US president is re -elected, whether he is the Republican Party or the Democratic background, it will adopt a relatively gentle and friendly China policy in the second term.This is fully reflected in the second term of Reagan and Clinton, and even if the two are in the early stages of the first term, they have a tough attitude towards China.Therefore, if Trump is re -elected, it is worth noting whether this second term will break the curse of China.
Biden's victory
As a challenger, Biden should originally focus on the Chinese card, but the helpless card was snatched by Trump, a person who did not play as common sense, and the close interaction with Xi Jinping when he served as Vice President, making Biden BidenInstead, in a relatively passive position in Chinese issues.However, as an veteran politician in the Democratic Party, Biden has formed a mature response strategy based on his rich politics experience.
On the one hand, Biden Democratic Democratic Brand (the Democratic Party's consistent strategy to China) believes that the CCP and its leaders lack democracy and good human rights records, and Trump rarely mentioned this.Biden's violent attack on Xi Jinping made it difficult to associate with the friendly exchanges between the two.But this is quite useful in cruel American politics.
On the other hand, Biden also emphasized the need for economic sanctions in China, showing the strong attitude towards China for the trade war and scientific and technological warfare.Biden expressed his support when he joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, and Trump regarded China to the WTO as a geopolitical and economic disaster, but now his attitude has greatly changed, emphasizing the employment opportunities and economic security of the United States.
Biden is now looking at China as a primary strategic challenge, and the United States must play a leading role in fighting against China.Biden emphasized the role of diplomatic and alliances, and believes that Trump seriously destroys the relationship between the United States and its allies, which is not conducive to the United States to play a global leadership role.Biden Battle's Value Brand of Liberty Democracy and Human Rights, which is different from Trump's priority to China.In the long run, conflicts in these ideological areas may have a greater impact on Sino -US relations.
In any case, Biden was trying to get rid of the Chinese puppet hat that Trump's team buckled on himself.At present, the polls show that Biden is in an advantageous position. As the election approaches, the frequency of the two sides may become higher and higher.But from the perspective of card style, Trump's uncertainty seems to be even greater.
Trump, who has recovered with crown disease, just declared that his body defeated Chinese virus, and it seemed that he had scored by Chinese cards again.However, whether American voters have developed aesthetic fatigue on Trump's four years of Chinese cards, can only be known until the election is announced.
(The author is Singapore National University, senior researcher and assistant director of the East Asia Research Institute)
