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Trump’s China policy is incoherent. That may be the point
Keeping Beijing off balance has advantages, but the US President may just be playing for short-term political gain.
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US President Donald Trump admires China's President Xi Jinping's brutal treatment of domestic foes and his repression of press opposition, says the writer.
PHOTO: AFP
Kurt Campbell
President Donald Trump’s second-term approach to China is full of contradictions. One minute, he is threatening tariffs on Beijing and bolstering Taiwan’s military; the next, he’s lavishly praising Chinese President Xi Jinping and easing high-tech trade restrictions. His critics say this scattershot policy is incoherent. But in foreign affairs, inconsistency is not necessarily incompetence. Mr Trump has used unpredictability to good effect in the past, including in relations with Beijing. The question is what he is after now.
Mr Trump is unmistakably drawn to powerful autocrats. He admires – perhaps even envies – Mr Xi’s brutal treatment of domestic foes and his repression of press opposition. Mr Trump has reversed bipartisan restrictions on the flow of the most advanced semiconductor technology and artificial intelligence chips to China, undercutting one of the few areas of clear American advantage in the contest for global technological leadership. And he has resurrected, jarringly, the “G-2” framing of the US-China relationship, suggesting a shared approach to global trends and responsibilities.
