China officially “doesn’t care” about Trump’s victory; unofficially, experts say Beijing is alarmed

KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan — official response from Communist China of Xi Jinping President-elect Trump’s victory was formulaic.

“Our policy towards the US is consistent,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning told reporters on Wednesday afternoon. “We will continue to review and manage China-US relations in accordance with the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation.”

National Taiwan University philosophy professor Yuan Jiuzheng returned to Taiwan from a trip to China on Monday, where he noted that almost everyone he met wanted to talk about the U.S. election. He told Fox News Digital that a Trump victory is a “worst-case scenario” for Beijing. Chinese experts as well as Chinese citizens online believe that the next four years will be under President-elect Trump will almost certainly worsen already strained relations.

During the campaign, Trump made it abundantly clear that he would take a tariff approach to trade with China. Professor Yuan explained that China was “not psychologically prepared” when President Trump hit large Chinese companies like Huawei with tariffs around 2018.

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But this time, Yuan said, China knows how damaging the policy will be, and it will come at a time when China’s domestic economy is struggling.

“Three key issues will continue to dominate US-China relations. Those are the three Ts — trade, technology and Taiwan,” Zhiqun Zhu, a professor of political science and international affairs at Bucknell University, told Fox News Digital hours earlier. Trump’s stunning triumph is now official.

On Wednesday Taiwan President William Lai wrote on X: “Sincere congratulations to President-elect @realDonaldTrump on your victory. “I am confident that the long-standing partnership between #Taiwan and the #US, built on shared values ​​and interests, will continue to serve as a cornerstone for regional stability and leadership.” to greater prosperity for us all.”

Taiwan Vice President Bi-him Hsiao, also via X, added: “I join President Lai in congratulating President Trump, Vice President-elect Vance and the American people. I look forward to building a strong partnership between Taiwan and the United States for freedom, peace and economic prosperity.”

The Taiwanese public has mixed feelings about the US elections. Some here find Trump’s often brash and abrasive personality unattractive. One recent survey showed that more than 50% of Taiwanese prefer Harris to Trump. However, many Taiwanese also said they believed Trump was potentially “best for Taiwan”, mainly due to the expectation that he would take a tough stance on China. These expectations are also shared across the Taiwan Strait.

Ross Darrell Feingold, a Taipei-based lawyer and local and regional politics commentator, is among a small group of Americans living in Taiwan who are active on TouTiao, a Chinese news platform owned by ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company. With over 150 million daily users, TouTiao can be compared to a hybrid of Facebook and X.

The Sunday before the US elections Feingold asked a question on TouTiao, which was finally allowed to be published after some changes due to strict Internet controls in China.

“As a Chinese, do you think Trump or Kamala Harris will do more harm to China-US relations?” he wrote.

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More than 30,000 people viewed the question, and about 5,500 gave a variety of responses, including outright support for Democratic candidate Harris, who has been nicknamed “Sister Ha Ha” by Chinese netizens, a reference to the vice president’s boisterous laugh.

Feingold, however, noted the near-unanimity in comments from Chinese netizens that the US is hostile to China and does not want China to take its rightful place as a global power.

“Based on the comments I received on TouTiao, the public in China seems to believe that the United States — led by leaders of both parties — will seek to contain China’s rise,” Feingold told Fox News Digital.

He added that it can be difficult to determine whether online comments reflect genuine personal opinions or are simply parroting ideas from China’s state media. Overall, Feingold says, Chinese society has begun to take American policies personally, interpreting them as directed against ordinary Chinese rather than as criticism of the ruling regime. Communist Party of China.

Zhu, the Bucknell professor, put it bluntly in comments to Fox News Digital, saying: “Although more than 80% of Americans surveyed now view China negatively, Chinese people’s positive views of America have also fallen…What’s different now from some? Several years ago, many Chinese, including liberals in China, became more critical of the United States… and believed that the United States was not welcoming to Chinese students, tourists and businessmen.”

Zhu noted that some states, such as Florida, have stopped virtually all cultural and educational exchanges with Beijing.

Japan, which also has tense relations with China, congratulated Trump on Wednesday. Barron’s quoted Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba as saying he hopes the countries’ alliance will rise to “new heights” during Trump’s second term.

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In a message on X, South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol both congratulated and praised Trump, writing: “Under your strong leadership, the future of the ROK-USA-America alliance will shine brighter. We look forward to working closely with you.”

And despite some suggesting that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un would welcome Trump back to the White House, there has been no official comment from the so-called Hermit Kingdom. But North Korea “launched several short-range ballistic missiles toward its eastern sea” hours before Tuesday’s US election.

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