Despite spiralling trade war, China likely to be a non-factor for US voters in midterm elections
In Beijing, there are worries that fallout from political turbulence in the US could further erode relations
As US President Donald Trump fights for survival in the politically divided United States, China worries that it could become collateral damage in the partisan struggle.
Faced with the growing chance that Democrats, riding a wave of anti-Trump sentiment, will regain control of the House of Representatives in the November 6 midterm elections, the Republican president looks poised to escalate the trade dispute with China even further.
Beijing is particularly unsettled by Trump’s tough and unyielding approach to trade and a litany of national security and geopolitical concerns, such as the South China Sea and Taiwan.
Many observers said that Beijing should not pin too much hope on the midterms’ outcome for improving US relations.
“The consequence of midterm elections is important – its implications on America’s domestic politics are clear and predictable. But its impact on US-China relations is too difficult and too early to assess,” said Cheng Li, a China expert at the Brookings Institution. “Because of Trump’s unpredictability and inconsistency, we will not know what the president would do vis-à-vis China.”
Li said Beijing might have already factored the congressional elections too heavily in considering US-China relations.
He said China tended to overestimate the importance of bilateral relations in Trump’s agenda, which was primarily about his own survival and American domestic politics.
“One of the things the Chinese side fails to understand is a lot of things that happen in the US are to do with American domestic politics, Trump’s personality, his own interests and agenda,” Li said. “The US-China relationship is not Trump’s primary concern.”