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The think tank said US presidential hopeful Donald Trump had preferred to remain ambiguous in his vision for America’s relations with global powers. Photo: AP

American election to drag down China-US relationship: think tank

The Sino-US relationship will be dragged down to a “lower point” in the US presidential election year before improving, due to campaign politics, according to a leading Chinese think tank.

“Both presidential candidates from two major parties have had a negative view on China policy,” said the latest edition of the Blue Book of the United States, an ­annual report released by the ­Institute of American Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Donald Trump is leading the Republicans, while Hillary ­Clinton is the presumptive Democratic nominee.

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A chapter of the blue book analyses the front runners’ foreign policy stances and their China policy in particular.

It said that ever since US President Barack Obama had embraced the US “pivot” towards Asia, ties between Washington and Beijing had reached a new juncture.

It said Clinton, a former US secretary of state and first lady under Bill Clinton, was an old-hand diplomat with the clearer foreign policy vision, while Trump, a property magnate, had preferred to remain ambiguous in his vision for America’s relations with global powers.

“As one of the originators who designed [the US] Asia-Pacific strategy, Clinton has been known for her tough stance on China ­affairs,” it said.

“There are many uncertainties and great ambiguity in Sino-US relations in Trump’s diplomacy,” it said, accusing him of making numerous groundless attacks on China.

Trump’s diplomatic doctrine of isolation, which suggests the US should not maintain a strong presence in the region, would mean the US would not invest too much in protecting the security of allies such as Japan and South Korea, and would not be involved in the territorial disputes in the ­region, it said.

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“Under the cycle of presidential election politics, Sino-US relations will continue the practice of ‘beginning low and going up afterwards’,” it said, in a reference to a typical trading session on the stock market.

However, the blue book said Sino-US relations would begin at an “even lower point” than ­previously in the first year of the presidency.

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It said President Xi Jinping had initiated a “new style” of power relations that would guide the development of ties, in the face of new challenges.

It advised the Chinese government to be well prepared to deal with such complicated relations between China and the United States.

Ni Feng, the deputy director of the Institute of American Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said he expected ­bilateral ties between China and the US would be affected by the election. “I believe [the relationship] will be [at a lower point], but you can hardly see a solution there, so you can do nothing” but let it improve, Ni said.

“If the South China Sea disputes can not be properly handled, I think Sino-US relations will begin at a lower point,” he added.

Additional reporting by Laura Zhou

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