Road to 'Make America Great Again'goes via Beijing, says US strategist

Michael Pillsbury (L), director of the Center for Chinese Strategy at the Hudson Institute in Washington, speaks at the Pangoal Insight Forum. [Photo by Cui Shoufeng/chinadaily.com.cn]

It is possible that the China-US relations will be better under US President-elect Donald Trump than his predecessor Barack Obama, although a delicate period of nine or 10 months may lie ahead, a senior US strategist has said.

Michael Pillsbury, director of the Center for Chinese Strategy at the Hudson Institute in Washington, said on Saturday at a seminar hosted by Pangoal Institution, a Beijing-based think tank, that "the possibility of improved relations between the two sides exists".

Beijing's proposals such as the "new type of major country relationship" and "the Belt and Road Initiative", both floated by President Xi Jinping, were neither approved nor supported by the Obama administration, which did not openly object to them either, he said.

"The Trump administration could take a fresh look at these ideas put forward by China," said Pillsbury, who also advises Trump on China policy.

Less than a week to go before Trump's inauguration, many are still wondering what the new administration means for the China-US ties. On a Wednesday hearing, Trump's nominee for Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, former Exxon Mobil Corp chairman and chief executive, talked about China in an openly hostile manner.

Tillerson referred to Beijing's reclamation works on reefs and islets in the South China Sea as "an illegal taking of disputed areas without regard for international norms", and proposed to restrict China's access to those islands. He also blamed China for "not being a reliable partner" in defusing tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Tillerson also told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that "I don't know of any plans to alter the One-China position", which Pillsbury sees as "a sigh of relief" for Beijing in an article published on the National Interest magazine on Thursday.

It is important to note that there are different voices around Trump and inside his team too, said Pillsbury. The president-elect is open to different opinions from his ministers", hence one "cannot take the testimony of a Cabinet member as Trump's own view", he added.

"Personally I do not want a comprehensive confrontation with China, it is important that we reduce our differences in smallest areas," said Pillsbury. The road to "Make America Great Again" goes to Beijing, as the bilateral cooperation will be more important, he added.

Trump's ambition to double the US growth rate, which has remained 2 percent in the last 30 years and increase jobs at home, mirrors his focus on trade, said Pillsbury. "To do this, one factor is to reduce our trade deficit from $500 billion to zero. That means the country that takes more American exports really helps."

The meeting between Trump and Jack Ma, founder of the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd on Jan 9, bodes well for both US small- and medium-sized companies struggling to export their products and China's image, said Pillsbury. If Alibaba signs major deals with US companies, that could create many jobs for Americans, added Pillsbury.