Photo: Alex Brandon Agence France-Presse Marco Rubio at a Donald Trump political rally on October 24 in Tempe, Arizona
Olivier Hotham – Agence France-Presse and Joy Chiang – Agence France-Presse Respectively in Beijing and Taipei
Published yesterday at 7:29 AM Updated yesterday at 10:49 AM
- United States
The virulent detractors of China in the future government of Donald Trump have compared its communist leaders to the Nazis, accused it of having produced the COVID virus or promised to better arm Taiwan.
Statements that, without a doubt, arouse circumspection in Beijing, experts point out, at a time when the winner of the American presidential election is surrounding himself with hard-liners and a confrontation with the Asian giant.
Prominent in this photo gallery is Marco Rubio, senator from Florida, who is expected to become secretary of state.
A notorious opponent of China, he is the subject of Chinese sanctions for his activism against Beijing's policies in its regions of Xinjiang and Hong Kong.
“These hawks are not only very tough on China issues, they are also likely to act without regard for the consequences,” Wu Xinbo, a professor at Fudan University in Shanghai, told AFP.
“Compared with the Biden administration, China-US exchanges and dialogue mechanisms will be significantly condensed and reduced,” he predicts.
Marco Rubio was a vocal supporter of a 2021 U.S. law aimed at combating alleged “forced labor” by the Uyghur minority in Xinjiang. It bans the import of any products from the region unless companies can prove that production did not involve such practices.
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000In a 2023 speech, the senator said that when it comes to decoupling the U.S. and Chinese economies, “our success or failure will define the 21st century.”
“They have leverage over our economy. They influence our society. They have an army of unpaid lobbyists here in Washington,” he said.
“Cold War”
His appointment could complicate Sino-U.S. diplomatic relations, analysts say.
“Rubio is relatively tough on China,” J. Michael Cole, a security analyst based in Taipei, told AFP.
The sanctions against him, which include banning him from entering China, “could create problems for summits where he’s supposed to be negotiating with his Chinese counterparts, not to mention the secretary of state’s visits to China,” he said.
Marco Rubio is far from the only anti-China hawk in the incoming Trump administration.
CIA insider John Ratcliffe has said he believes the COVID-19 virus escaped from a Wuhan lab.
Another elected official, Mike Waltz, is expected to take on the strategic role of White House national security adviser. He notably declared that Washington was in a “cold war with the Chinese Communist Party” (CCP).
He also called on the United States to learn the lessons of the war between Ukraine and Russia “by addressing the CCP threat and arming Taiwan now.”
In another diatribe, he accused Beijing of conducting a “military buildup on the scale of that of Nazi Germany in the 1930s” in order to defend Chinese interests in the Pacific.
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All this music is probably to the taste of the leaders in Taiwan, an island that China says it wants to reunite with the rest of its territory, by force if necessary.
“Rubio is a long-time friend of Taiwan,” Fang-yu Chen, a professor of political science at Soochow University in Taipei, told AFP.
“We can expect a lot of policies favorable to Taiwan,” such as a “normalization” of certain official contacts, he emphasizes.
This measure would certainly provoke the anger of Beijing, which would consider it contrary to the commitments Washington made when they established diplomatic relations in 1979.
Chinese diplomacy has so far declined to comment on Donald Trump's appointments.
The Republican tycoon has threatened to impose 60% tariffs on Chinese goods arriving in the United States. But he has also expressed admiration for Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“What does Trump want: to reach an agreement with China or to cut ties with it and move towards an all-out confrontation? asks Wu Xinbo of Fudan University. Trump’s attitude will be crucial.”