THE official launch of the Republican presidential campaign featuring Donald Trump and JD Vance this week has governments around the world looking for clues regarding what the “America First” foreign policy might look like if reinstated — including in the world’s second-largest economy.
Quoted from CNN, Ohio’s junior senator JD Vance, has mentioned China and its negative impact on the American economy several times.
He conveyed this in his introduction at the Republican National Convention (RNC) on Wednesday (17/7), when he accepted the nomination as Trump’s vice presidential candidate.
Like his party colleagues, Vance claims that the policies of the past decades supported by President Joe Biden and politicians are out of touch with the realities in Washington.
This is thought to have led to the US being flooded with cheap goods from China, cheap foreign labor, and in the coming decade, deadly fentanyl from China.
“We will build factories once more, together, we will protect American workers’ wages and stop the Chinese Communist Party from building their middle class on the backs of Americans,” Vance said.
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The comment, which was one of several direct references to foreign countries during the nearly 40-minute speech,
JD Vance and Trump signal how their administrations will shape US policy and relations with China – and US partners in Asia.
This has drawn attention from the region, where countries’ relations with the US are starting to look different if power changes hands in November’s elections.
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Beijing has indirectly asked for the rhetoric to be toned down.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Tuesday and Wednesday that Beijing opposes making China an issue in the US election.
The Biggest Threat
JD Vance has shocked his European allies by sharply criticizing US support for Ukraine as it struggles to defend itself from Russian aggression.
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Like Trump, he has also repeatedly criticized NATO and its European members for not spending enough on defense.
The view drew praise from Russia’s top diplomat on Wednesday.
“He (Vance) supports peace, stopping aid. We can only welcome this because, in fact, it is necessary to stop arms deliveries to Ukraine, and the war will end,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
Part of Vance’s skepticism regarding support for Ukraine lies in his view that far more pressing threats to the US are being ignored.
Senator JD Vance speaks during the RNC on Wednesday (7/17), in Milwaukee.
Vance was quick to call China the biggest threat to our country in an interview with Fox News on Monday as the RNC was underway.
“The war in Ukraine must end immediately so that America can focus on the real problem, which is China,” he said.
The vice presidential nominee has also argued in recent months that the US supplying air defense systems to Ukraine might hurt its ability to help defend Taiwan – should China attack the self-ruled island.
JD Vance does not have a long track record as a ‘hawk’ toward China like some of Trump’s other rumored running mates, such as Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, and the vice president might have varying degrees of involvement in foreign affairs.
However, Trump’s selection of the 39-year-old senator was seen by some observers as strengthening his hard line on China – a position that Beijing is likely watching closely.
US President Joe Biden has largely maintained the tariffs Trump imposed on a wide range of Chinese goods.
He has made countering what Washington calls security threats from China a cornerstone of his foreign policy, even as he works to stabilize communications with Beijing.
“The Chinese government is likely planning scenarios and contingencies with great vigilance for the possible return of an administration that is even less interested in cooperation and engagement than the current Democratic administration,” said Brian Wong, a research fellow at the Center for Contemporary China and the World at the University of Hong Kong. (Z-10)
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