As Donald Trump prepares to assume the presidency, China's recent maneuvers in the South China Sea and broader geopolitical behavior reveal a strategic recalibration in response to shifting U.S. leadership Gordon Chang told Newsmax.
Recent behavior highlights how the incoming administration is already influencing Beijing's strategies, Chang said on "Saturday Agenda."
"We've seen this month that China went uncharacteristically quiet in its peripheral seas and waters. I think that's because they were afraid of Trump, and they wanted to give him a wide berth," the expert on U.S.-China relations said.
"I don't know what's going to happen in December, but clearly Trump had an effect on the Chinese leadership. And that was a good effect because we had a very peaceful November."
However, reports indicate China has resumed assertive actions in the region in the past few days.
"[R]ight now, I think the Chinese believe that they're going to take a bite out of [President Joe] Biden. They see that in this interim period, they'll be able to get away with something," he said.
"I think they also want to see Trump's reaction."
Trump's hard-line stance on trade, intellectual property theft, and fentanyl has also weighed on Beijing's calculations, according to Chang.
"China is a trade-surplus country. Through September, their merchandise trade surplus to the U.S. was $217.5 billion," he said.
"In trade wars, trade-surplus countries don't have leverage. Trump has the leverage because we're the deficit country.
"We're far stronger than China, but we can lose our country because China is attacking us and our political leadership during the Biden administration wasn't defending us. The Communist Party believes it will never be safe for as long as our country exists," Chang said.
"That means we have to be strong. We have to understand the nature of China's malicious challenge to us and we've got to defend our country, and Biden didn't do that.
"China is very much in trouble right now. Their economy ... Trump will take advantage of that," he said.
"I think that China has reached its peak, and people are going to understand that around the world. And they're going to understand one other thing: that America is back."
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Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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