In US-China rivalry, Beijing advisers urge ‘rational’ approach during election year, but will pragmatism win out?

China also called on to do more than release a few policy documents to restore investor confidence amid rising competition with the West, while engagement with Washington must improve

Professor warns that China must start preparing for the possibility that Republicans retake the White House in 2025

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Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping get some face time at a summit in November. Photo: Reuters

Published: 8:00am, 20 Jan 2024

Policy advisers are urging Beijing to remain open-minded and focus on restoring investor confidence as China braces for more geopolitical tensions this year against the backdrop of elections in the United States and European Union.

While November’s summit between presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping in California helped stabilise relations between their respective countries, it is unclear whether such progress will garner Biden many “brownie points” with voters in the 2024 US presidential election, according to Zhang Wenzong, deputy director and research professor of Institute of American Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.

“The uncertainty caused by the [US] election is a risk to Sino-US relations. If Republicans return to the White House in 2025, China needs to prepare in advance to deal with new challenges,” Zhang said in a blog post published on Thursday by China-US Focus, an online forum run by the Hong Kong-based China-United States Exchange Foundation.

Policy advisers from China’s Peking and Tsinghua universities have advocated for Beijing to take a “rational” approach when it comes to managing competition with the US in 2024 – a year of elections across the globe.

Their recommendations have also come amid Beijing’s efforts to retain its market allure to global investors and restore investor confidence to counter the pressure of de-risking moves by the US-led West, and of increasing geopolitical complications.

Beijing’s tightening grip on national security, as well as inconsistencies in policies, have also sent chills down the spines of investors and businesspeople, while fuelling concerns over whether Beijing can sustain strong economic growth this year.

Yao Yang, a professor and dean at the National School of Development and director of the China Centre for Economic Research at Peking University, said China should not let competition with the US get in the way of directly engaging with Washington to discuss new rules and policy changes.

Beijing has deemed Washington’s tariffs on Chinese goods and tech restrictions as “unilateral bullying” and “unreasonable suppression”, while the US has accused China of “unfair” trade practices and “economic coercion” that have come at the expense of American jobs.