US – China Relations
Trump is waging “psychological warfare” on Xi
By Andrew Korybko
Trump just
dramatically increased trade tensions between the US and China after publicly
demanding that President Xi hold talks with him at the G20 otherwise he’ll
immediately impose tariffs on $300 billion worth of imports, which is nothing
less than economic blackmail and a serious form of psychological warfare on his
counterpart.
The concept
of “face” is one of the most important characteristics of Chinese culture and
under no circumstances should a person ever be seen as “losing” it, though
Trump just put Xi in a dilemma whereby he’s bound to “lose face” regardless of
whatever he does.
It’ll be
seen as capitulating to Trump’s blackmail if he holds talks with him at the
G20, whereas declining to do so will carry with it an unprecedented economic
punishment. Either way, Xi “loses face”, and the lose-lose position that he’s
in is bound to exacerbate factional divisions within the Communist Party over
the country’s approach to the “trade war“.
On one
hand, there are those who think that China should cut a deal with the US before
the tariffs become so severe that they trigger a large-scale supply chain
rerouting that leads to long-term economic problems, though the paradox is that
agreeing to Trump’s “Open Door” policy would shock the country’s economic
system either way.
On the
other hand, some voices think that China should dig in its heels for a
prolonged “trade war” and pro-actively take all necessary measures to soften
the blow of the US’ de-facto sanctions and secure the many links of the global
supply chain within their country.
These
so-called “hardliners” (from the American perspective) will probably gain more
influence over Xi as a result of Trump’s economic blackmail against him and his
impending “loss of face”, though somewhat counter intuitively, that might be
exactly what the US hopes will happen if one accepts the theory that Trump
never wanted to reach a deal with China to begin with but was instead looking
for a pretext to implement his promised policy of “economic nationalism”.
Trump
insulted China’s President Xi by sending pence to the APEC summit
Either way,
the Chinese are now on the strategic defensive in more ways than one since
Trump’s psychological warfare on Xi is a global humiliation for such a proud
Great Power.
The
American leader was thought to have crossed the Rubicon last month when he
insulted the country’s negotiating team by accusing them of double-dealing
after they supposedly changed their mind at the very last minute right when
they were supposed to have formalized the trade agreement that they were trying
to clinch for months already, one which would have probably been lopsided in
America’s favor.
In
hindsight, it might have been a ploy by the Chinese to go along with these
talks for so long before suddenly reconsidering their position in a bid to get
the US to balance out the terms in its desperation to seal the deal ahead of
the 2020 elections, but that would have been a fundamental misreading of
Trump’s intent should it have been the case.
As it
stands, whatever the Chinese do will play into Trump’s hands, unless of course
they have an ace up their sleeves that they’ve yet to play.
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