美中全球议题对话项目

Wang Jisi

The general feeling in China is that the United States does not want China to stand up as a global power so it doesn't matter who controls the White House. The public doesn't really have a good sense of a political struggle in the United States or of the polarization between the Democrats and Republicans. The general sense is that most Americans, they have ill feelings about the Chinese and that there is some racism and prejudice against the Chinese population in the United States.

More sophisticated analysts of course have a better understanding of what the United States is doing and even discern some differences of opinion within the administration itself, between Trump and some of his aides. These observers are watching the presidential election campaign very closely at this moment.

Michael Green

We have to think about how do we build much stronger patterns of cooperation, trust, and strategic dialogue in a context that is now largely driven by competition for the foreseeable future.

The election will be critical. In the Reagan-Carter election, Reagan promised to re-normalize relations with Taiwan, and a few years later had one of the best relations with China ever. Bill Clinton said he wouldn't cuddle the butchers of Beijing after Tiananmen, and then he brought China into the final stage of the WTO. And my boss, George W. Bush, said during the election that China is a strategic competitor and not a strategic partner, and he and Hu Jintao had a pretty productive relationship.

So the elections are cyclical in a way. The China theme can rise and fall depending on circumstances, but we are not in a purely cyclical period in the relationship. It's structurally different.

These reflections, drawn from an online dialogue, have been edited for length and clarity.