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While other heads of state have already congratulated future US President Biden, Beijing is silent. Hardly anyone in China believes that much will change in the difficult relationship between the two countries.
By Ruth Kirchner, ARD-Studio Beijing, currently. Sedan
No other bilateral relationship has changed as much under the administration of US President Donald Trump as the one between Washington and Beijing. The tariff and trade dispute, started by Trump more than two years ago, has turned into a bitter conflict for power and influence in the world. Hardly anyone in China believes that things will be different now.
“Trump has not done a good job in terms of China-US relations,” said a teacher in Beijing. He also doesn’t have high hopes for Biden. “The elections have no meaning for China,” said a passerby. “Americans will never change, they are all the same.”
“Basically pessimistic”
Analysts don’t believe in big changes either. Shi Yinhong teaches international relations at Renmin University in Beijing and advises the State Council and the Chinese cabinet. He hopes that talks on trade issues will at least resume, but otherwise sees little reason for optimism. “I am basically pessimistic about the Chinese policy of the future Biden administration. He was once vice president of Barack Obama, but the world has changed dramatically since then, as have China and the United States.”
For example, China has caught up enormously in the tech competition and has long since ceased to be just a competitor, but a rival to the US. Biden is unlikely to take a softer line than Trump in the tech dispute . Sanctions against smartphone maker and network provider Huawei, which from a US perspective, represents a security risk, are likely to continue.
Dispute over human rights issues
When it comes to human rights issues, for example in the Xinjiang Uyghur region, in Tibet or in Hong Kong, things could get even more uncomfortable for China, says Shen Dingli of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai: “Tensions will rise under Biden Hong Kong or Xinjiang, the pressure so far has come from the United States Congress, not the government. Biden is following his values, his government, along with Congress, will continue to increase the pressure. Relationships will not improve, rather they will get worse. “
And yet some people in Shanghai or Beijing expect a new hue. “The US Secretary of State, Pompeo, constantly reproaches China. He does not call China the People’s Republic, but only talks about the ‘Chinese Communists’,” said a passerby from Beijing. “That is very rude, so I hope relations improve with the new president.”
After all, Biden and China’s head of state and party, Xi Jinping, have met several times in the past. It is not expected that Biden will controversially refer to the corona virus as “the Chinese virus” like Trump. At least the hope that Beijing and Washington will fight a little more politely and diplomatically than before might come true.
