- The US president says he loves Xi Jinping, who probably loves him more for compromising the awesome powers of America to contain and fight China
If you didn't know the context, you might think this was someone describing his marriage.
"We love each other," said US President Donald Trump of his alleged friendship with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. "Our relationship … has probably never been better. We went through a very rough patch, but it has never, ever been better."
Some wit in Washington once said that Beijing should thank Trump for making China great again. The latest news from Washington has mostly gone China's way. There is probably nothing more that China wants than four more years of Trump. So, the impeachment proceedings are perfect, drawn out enough to distract the White House, but not threatening enough to unseat the president. Unless there is to be a bombshell implicating undeniable "high crimes and misdemeanours" that even loyal Republicans can't ignore, there is simply not enough votes in the US Senate to convict the president.
And in post-truth America, so long as the economy is buoyant, his supporters don't care about Trump's alleged incompetence, criminality or instability.
After the pomp of trade deal signing, China and US face tough reality
If there is a Washington consensus after the demise of the last Washington Consensus, it is that China is the new global threat. This view is bipartisan and likely to guide US presidents for years to come.
This president may bill himself to be the first to get tough on China. But, as argued by Yan Xuetong, dean of the Institute of International Relations at Tsinghua University, Trump's erratic, impulsive and ad hoc approach to foreign policy, which makes a mockery of policy, has been detrimental to America's reliability to allies and credibility to enemies.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership to exclude China? Gone and forgotten. Nato? Those Europeans better pay up first. South Korea and Japan, America's long-standing allies in Asia now engaged in their own trade and diplomatic war? It's their problem. The former Clark Air Base, once a major US military facility in the Philippines? Now a brand new city built with Chinese money.
What about Canada taking so much heat from Beijing for detaining Huawei's No 2 at the request of Washington? Sorry, but our boy in Ottawa will have to take care of the mess we made for him. The United Nations and World Trade Organisation? What are they?
Trump has inflicted extensive institutional damage on his own government and global alliances. Who knows what he will do with four more years? How can the Chinese not love him?
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