Despite a trade war and much posturing from both sides, a group of Chinese officials say their betting on a Trump victory due to his transactional approach to politics. According to the Washington Post, one Beijing political insider said: “Trump is a businessman. We can just pay him money and the problems will be solved. “As long as we have money, we can buy him. That’s the reason why we prefer him to Democrats.”
Despite rocky relations between the two countries over the last 18 months Trump did recently congratulate the country’s Communist Party on its 70 years in power, with the US president even suggesting his relationship with China is “very amazing” despite the “little spat” over trade.
The Chinese sources also praised Trump’s use of Twitter, one former minister claiming that as a result the leader was “easy to read”.
Another influential voice in Beijing, Tsinghua University international relations professor Yan Xuetong, wrote recently that, thanks to Mr Trump, China was facing “the best strategic opportunity” since the Cold War.
“Trump has undermined the U.S-led alliance system, which has improved China’s international environment,” Yan said in Southern Review.
Trump’s presidency has been marked by numerous gaffes with foreign leaders that for many mark an unprecedented isolation of key US allies, and China now seems prepared to take full advantage of what another four years could entail.
In particular a continuing presidency of Trump offers potential gains for China when it comes to the South China Sea.
The Beijing insider continued: “Trump isn’t ideologically opposed to China. He doesn’t go on about human rights and Xinjiang and the South China Sea,”
Trump recently showed that he would be willing to compromise on some of these human rights issues if it meant a better trade deal with China.
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One of these islands was Mischief Reef, where littoral combat ship Gabrielle Giffords traveled within 12 nautical miles of the eastern Spratly Islands – which China, Malaysia, Taiwan and the Philippines all claim sovereignty over.
In response, the Chinese government sent a defiant warning to Washington on Friday, urging the US to stop its patrols in a furious statement.
A spokesman for China’s Southern Theatre Command (military) said: “We call on the US to stop such provocative acts to avoid the happening of any mishap.
“China has indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea islands and its surrounding area.”
China later sent forces to intercept the two US Naval ships.
China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) said: “The Chinese PLA sent ships and aircraft to conduct the whole-process monitoring and verification on the two US warships and warned them to leave.”
The region is seeing increasing amounts of disputes lately as China seeks to more aggressively assert its claims over the valuable waters.
Just last week one of its aerostat radars was spotted on a Philippine claimed island with satellite imagery.
The placing of the surveillance tech in the region violates the Hague courts 2016 ruling which said Panganiban Reef belongs to the Philippines.