Trump on China: speak loudly and carry a tiny stick

Xi’s China is so far defying gravity. Despite its history of despotic autocratic party rule, Xi has managed to govern in a way that has promoted economic strength while projecting international resilience. Xi has kept his eye on the ball, while Trump has kept one eye on the mirror and the other on Fox News, appointing loyal incompetents and relying on party subservience to mask the consequences.

“While strategists in Washington debate whether China has peaked, their counterparts in China are having an analogous debate about the United States—and reaching strikingly similar conclusions. China’s state media has diagnosed the United States with “hegemonic anxiety,” suggesting that Washington cannot cope with the possibility that it must face a multipolar world. And whereas U.S. thinkers such as Hal Brands have argued in their analyses of China that a power that has peaked is likely to lash out in violent ways, Chinese observers independently conclude that it is Washington that is anxious about preserving its position—and is increasingly willing to employ any means necessary to sustain its preeminence.”

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“. . . if anything, Xi has gained confidence because he can point to tangible results in the form of technological breakthroughs. And Xi can afford to be patient because his is a long-term project, and he does not face the erratic fluctuations of an unstable political system swinging from one extreme to the other.

 

“Indeed, a growing number of officials in Washington employ Cold War–style rhetoric when discussing China yet demonstrate little appetite to take on the difficult and expensive tasks, such as refurbishing the defense industrial base and shoring up key supply chains, that would help the United States outcompete China. If this dynamic continues, the United States will be left pursuing what might be called a “Reverse Roosevelt” strategy: speaking loudly about American power while wielding an ever-smaller stick. While Xi has been disciplined and methodical in his efforts to bolster China’s strategic position, the United States has been distracted and incoherent. Misreading Xi Jinping is, ultimately, part of the failure to address the problems facing the United States itself.”

 

Ultimately, China is far too big and powerful to be bullied by paper tigers like Donald Trump. And as Trump destroys the dollar with debt and inflation and endangers US national security by undermining the military, CIA, FBI and CDC, Xi maintains and extends China’s military power and its internal surveillance state. Finally, America’s strengths used to lie in its alliances and cooperation with western democracies, and Trump is severing those ties. China will survive Xi. Will America survive Trump?

 

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/china/against-china-xi-jinping-jonathan-czin?s=ESPZZ005O4&utm_medium=promo_email&utm_source=post&utm_campaign=PROM_ND25%20Post%20Release_102925_China%20Against%20China&utm_content=20251029&utm_term=