The challenge of being an ‘old friend of China’

David M. Lampton says US ambassador-designate Terry Branstad must be wary of the risks as he tries to balance expectations on both sides

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Iowa governor Terry Branstad raises a toast to then vice-president Xi Jinping in the state capital Des Moines on February 15, 2012. Photo: AFP

Published: 5:11pm, 12 Dec 2016Updated: 8:07pm, 12 Dec 2016

President-elect Donald Trump’s intention to send Iowa Governor Terry Branstad to China as US ambassador is a good choice. Branstad is in for the challenge of a lifetime. It is not easy carrying the burden of “friend of China”.

For the Chinese, one of the most easily established and enduring ties people can form involves hometown and geographic connections. President Xi Jinping ( 習近平 ) established such links when he made his first trip to America, in 1985. Then a local official in Hebei province, Xi visited Iowa, the province’s “sister state”. During that journey 31 years ago, Xi also established the bond of human connection with a farm family in the small Iowan town of Muscatine. So, when Xi visited the US again in early 2012 as China’s vice-president and supreme leader in waiting, he found it natural and politically effective to introduce himself to Americans as an “old friend” of Iowa and the state’s long-serving and very popular governor, Terry Branstad. Branstad had been governor of Iowa during both of Xi’s visits.

There is often the implication that the friend will be solicitous of Chinese interests

Now, chosen by Trump as ambassador-designate, Branstad takes to his prospective post the assets and liabilities of being “an old friend” of China and its supreme leader, Xi. This is a big plus for America, but, it is also a heavy burden for the governor. What are the implications of such a status? How useful to American interests is this status of “friend”? Have other US officials or citizens had this status and what happened?

Chairman Mao Zedong greets US president Richard Nixon at Zhongnanhai in Beijing on February 21, 1972. Photo: Xinhua

To start with, being a “friend of China” is a fraught status. There is often the implication that the friend will be solicitous of Chinese interests, understanding of Chinese problems, and willing to bargain to reach mutual accommodation. But above all, at this level, a “friend” is about national interests. A friend can provide Beijing’s leaders with an unvarnished and credible readout on the circumstance in the friend’s society. With so much uncertainty surrounding the emerging Trump presidency, for example, this will be a highly valued function for Chinese leaders – just explaining “what on earth is going on in Washington?”

China welcomes ‘old friend’ Terry Branstad as likely US envoy

The second key function of a friend is providing an unobstructed channel of direct communication between the two leaderships, filtered through as little intervening bureaucracy as possible. If Branstad proves to have similar access to Trump as US ambassador Clark “Sandy” Randt had to president George W. Bush in the 2000s, he could well prove important to the relationship. China’s leaders will value him greatly. Being a friend affords you the credibility and access to play this role.