Why a Kamala Harris White House could mean more conflict for US and China

Tsinghua scholar Yan Xuetong argues Democratic Party candidate would be ‘more reluctant’ to accept China’s rise than rival Donald Trump

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A prominent Chinese political scientist has argued that US-China economic relations will continue to deteriorate regardless of whether Donald Trump (left) or Kamala Harris (right) becomes the next US president. Photo: Reuters

Published: 10:00pm, 13 Oct 2024

China and the US are likely to face more “political conflict” if Kamala Harris beats Donald Trump next month to become America’s next president, according to a prominent Chinese political scientist.

The Democratic Party’s presidential candidate would be “more reluctant” than her Republican rival to accept that China is catching up and the US is no longer capable of dominating the world as it did in the 1990s, according to Yan Xuetong, dean of the institute of international relations at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

He made the comments during a debate at the university with American international relations theorist John Mearsheimer on Friday.

“Harris is more eager to maintain America’s dominance than Trump,” he said, adding that Trump was more concerned about the domestic interests of the United States than the country’s international dominance.

“If Harris wins the election, I think China and the US will have more political conflicts than [if] Trump wins the election,” he said.

His comments came less than four weeks before the US election day, with both candidates making their final pitches to voters in a neck-and-neck race for the White House.