When Trump meets Clinton: what Asians will be looking for in the US presidential election debate
Derwin Pereira says it matters to the region how the issues of Sino-US relations, trade and America’s security partnerships will feature in the face-off between the candidates
For Asians, America’s global position depends on at least three interlocking issues. They are its relations with China, the most important bilateral relationship for both powers; the role of the US in furthering global trade; and the degree to which the US can be a credible security partner for Asia.
On each of these counts, there are differences between the Republican and Democratic candidates. It would be instructive if their debate clarified exactly where these differences lie, and where they could lead.
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Trump’s attitude to China is but a part of his mythical approach to world affairs. His fixation with US greatness – as if it were a given in global history – might resonate with patriots at home who cannot comprehend the world without America. To Chinese, such mythologies are par for the international course.
Thus, the Beijing political establishment treats Trump’s chest-beating triumphalism with the patronising civility that it reserves for the leaders of countries whose mettle has not been tempered by the unsentimental passage of time. China has thousands of years under its belt.
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Moreover, he is a law-and-order tsar, and in that capacity, lauded the “strength” of the Chinese crackdown on the Tiananmen protests of 1989. The Chinese love those who love power, particularly when they are businessmen as well, as Trump is. They can do business with him.
