Could Donald Trump’s latest overtures to Russia add to pressure on China? Observers aren’t so sure
- The US president reportedly wants to meet Vladimir Putin before November’s election to secure a foreign policy win
- A nuclear arms deal could cause problems for Beijing, but analysts doubt much progress will be made
Chinese observers have played down the possibility that Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin will meet before the American elections, but said the US president may make adventurous foreign policy moves before November’s vote.
Trump wants to meet his Russian counterpart to update the nuclear arms control agreement between the two countries to secure a foreign policy win, NBC News reported on Sunday, citing anonymous sources.
National security adviser Robert O’Brien told NBC that Trump had not asked for a meeting with Putin in the US but hoped to host the Russian leader to sign a deal before the 2010 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (Start) expires next year.
Trump has already taken a share of the credit after last week’s announcement that Israel and the United Arab Emirates had reached a landmark accord to establish normal diplomatic relations in exchange for Israel suspending annexation of occupied West Bank territory.
Some Chinese foreign relations analysts said Trump’s efforts to play the diplomatic card could backfire, but said that if the two sides did make progress on nuclear arms controls, it could put pressure on Beijing, which has repeatedly refused to join the talks.
Shi Yinhong, an international relations professor with Renmin University and a Chinese government adviser, said a large number of American voters, especially the Democrats, did not want their leader to get too close with Russia.