Experts Urge Constructive Engagement In China-US Relations Amid Trump's Comeback

NEW YORK, Nov 11 (Bernama-Xinhua) -- As former US President Donald Trump has made his comeback, experts call for a balanced US approach in handling China-US relations as well as constructive engagement despite expected challenges.

US foreign policy is likely to become "more rambunctious, perhaps even more acerbic," Denis Simon, a long-time US-China relations specialist and former Executive Vice Chancellor at Duke Kunshan University, told Xinhua in an interview.

"I see the US moving away from some of its traditional commitments and core principles as it becomes more inward focused, more protectionist, and more techno-nationalist," he said.

"The implications for US-China relations are considerable," he added.

Simon expressed concern over the incoming Trump administration's perception of China's rise, especially in the technology sector, noting that it "needs to be building bridges rather than operating with a zero-sum mentality."

"The US can save itself the huge costs that would result from battling China across key issues by adopting a mutually beneficial path," Simon said. "Mutual respect, greater cross-cultural sensitivity, and enhanced reciprocity can lead to win-win outcomes."

Elizabeth Economy, a senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, has shared similar concern on Foreign Affairs magazine, saying that the United States must prioritise practical cooperation on global issues like climate change and pandemic prevention.

"US policymakers need to understand that near-term stabilisation in relations with China is not a compromise of US interests, but rather a step toward achieving them," she wrote.

Economy argued that reducing inflammatory rhetoric and fostering a functional diplomatic relationship will be essential in sustaining the world's most important bilateral relationship.

Sourabh Gupta, a senior Asia-Pacific international relations policy specialist from the Institute for China-America Studies, has discerned potential in some of Trump's more protectionist policies, according to Xinhua.

Encouraging onshore Chinese foreign direct investment could revitalise American manufacturing, particularly in regions that need job growth, he said.

"This approach could offer a win-win situation," Gupta said, outlining how Trump's policies could create US manufacturing jobs while providing Chinese investors access to the American market.

The relative lack of focus on China during the 2024 election campaign may give the incoming administration more room to shape policy as challenges arise, said Robert Kuhn, chairman of the Kuhn Foundation.

"This relative unimportance is a good thing," he told Xinhua, suggesting that it allows the new Trump administration greater flexibility in developing pragmatic China policies.

Kuhn set out a three-pronged strategy for stabilising relations: respecting mutual "red lines" to avoid needless provocation; identifying shared interests for cooperation on global issues, such as fighting illegal drugs, organised crime, epidemics, artificial intelligence risk and climate change; and allowing diplomatic efforts time to de-escalate tensions.

"The Chinese and American people would support it. The peace and prosperity of the world would depend on it," said Kuhn.

In a July commentary titled "Questioning the presumption of a US 'consensus' on China policy" on the Brookings Institution's website, experts warned that how the US-China relationship evolves will play a crucial role in shaping the future of global stability in the 21st century.

"In light of those stakes, the United States needs as expansive and inclusive of a debate as possible over the way forward, not one that stays confined within the lines of a supposed consensus," they wrote.

"The stakes are too high for a limited conversation; the US needs as broad and inclusive a debate as possible about the way forward," they added.

-- BERNAMA-XINHUA