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US-China relations
ChinaDiplomacy

China needs to work for more ‘visible’ deliverables before US presidential election: expert

  • As US political rhetoric coarsens, a Tsinghua scholar says Beijing must take concrete action to improve exchanges, dialogue with Washington

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An expert on US-China relations warns that Beijing needs to work harder to achieve diplomatic wins ahead of a contentious US presidential election. Photo: Reuters
Orange Wangin Beijing
Beijing should ramp up efforts to achieve “visible” deliverables with Washington to avoid a rapid escalation of animosity before the US presidential election in November, a Chinese expert on international relations has warned.
Although strained, ties between the two countries appear to have stabilised in recent months, but observers have yet to see concrete steps by Washington to address ongoing challenges, according to An Gang, non-resident fellow at the Centre for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University.

Instead, the Biden administration has launched more restrictive measures against Beijing, stemming from both domestic election politics as well as its global strategy, he wrote in an article circulated on a WeChat channel on Thursday.

A “worst-case scenario” is Donald Trump returning as US president and resetting the progress in relations between China and the US to “zero”, An Gang says. Photo: AFP
A “worst-case scenario” is Donald Trump returning as US president and resetting the progress in relations between China and the US to “zero”, An Gang says. Photo: AFP

“Many in the Chinese and American academic community think that the relationship between the two countries is entering ‘garbage time’ from now until the next [US] president is elected,” An said.

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The widely used sports term refers to a period towards the end of a game in which one side has such an insurmountable lead, meaning the outcome is not in doubt and the players tend to become passive.

In terms of China-US relations, An said “garbage time” meant that all dialogue was superficial, problem-solving was low, effective cooperation was hard to achieve, and domestic political disruptions were deepening, stalling efforts to fulfil the consensus reached at the Xi-Biden summit in California in November.
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“The problem is that ‘garbage time’ will only lead to worse outcomes,” he warned.

An struck the cautionary tone as both Beijing and Washington demonstrated their commitments to stabilising bilateral ties by continuing high-level talks, working groups and negotiations on the economy, finance, trade, climate, drug control and military affairs.

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