Opinion | China’s Xi Jinping is playing the dream role America’s Donald Trump can only aspire to

Robert Delaney says pundits who rank Chinese President Xi Jinping’s powers above Donald Trump’s have it right, as American voters still don’t embrace autocracy and public opinion still matters

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Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping arrive for a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg on July 8. Photo: AP

Published: 12:21pm, 30 Oct 2017Updated: 7:18pm, 30 Oct 2017

As President Donald Trump scanned the cable networks last week, the reports from Beijing must have given him heartburn. President Xi Jinping was billed as the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. Add the trajectory of China’s economy and Xi’s standing since the 19th Communist Party Congress, as well as the technical and structural means he has to drive policy and check dissent, and one might conclude – as The Economist did – that Xi “has more clout than Donald Trump”.

What we know of Trump’s political philosophy more closely mirrors the kind of deference to authority seen in Chinese and Russian political culture than it does American proclivities.

Trump tweeted about Xi’s “extraordinary elevation” within a party-state on track to beat the Soviet Union’s record in terms of longevity. That will happen by the time China’s leaders gather for their next party congress.

However, the American political structure and overall ideological orientation won’t allow Trump the indulgences he wants, whether it’s the blunt instruments he expects to control immigration (a Mexico border wall, a block on arrivals from many mainly Muslim nations) or the freedoms he expects on physical contact with women.

Protesters rally against restrictive guidelines relating to immigration and refugees under Donald Trump, in New York on June 29. Photo: AFP

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Trump’s rating is at its lowest since he took office, The Wall Street Journal reported at the weekend, citing a poll, with Americans disapproving of, among other things, “his handling of some policy issues”. Trump’s job approval rating stood at 38 per cent, a five-point drop from September. Overall, 58 per cent said they disapproved of the job he has done.