Trump creates tensions with China to divert election pressure

World
Europe

03:44

It's obvious now that US President Donald Trump is using China-US ties to divert domestic pressure concerning the upcoming midterm elections. Cheng Li, director and senior fellow at John Thornton China Center under the Brookings Institutions, expressed his concerns, saying that Trump is good at creating events both domestically and internationally.

“If Democrats win the representative, they will pursue a lot of investigations. It means the next two years will be chaotic, you cannot achieve anything. But Donald Trump is not a person famous for being quiet; he will make a lot of noises himself,” Li told CGTN host Tian Wei during an exclusive interview.

During Wednesday's United Nations Security Council meeting, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China doesn't and will not interfere in any other nation's internal affairs. His comments came after Trump accused the Chinese of "attempting to interfere" in the November elections in the US.

“In a way, Trump can take a very cooperative approach towards China, but probably most likely, he will create tensions, conflicts with China. So that kind of motivation could have a strong impact to US-China relations,” Li said.

On Monday, the latest and biggest US tariffs targeting about 200 billion dollars worth of goods of Chinese imports kicked in. Li said that there's no consensus at all in the US that they should use a trade war to contain China.

“It's a war with no winner. Therefore we should never fight such a war,” he said, “It's really ironic to say Donald Trump is a strategist. No, he is not. He is just a business leader. Everything is transactional.”

World Insight with Tian Wei is a 45-minute global affairs and debate show on CGTN. It airs weekdays at 10:15 p.m. BJT (1415 GMT) with rebroadcasts at 4:15 a.m. BJT (20:15 GMT).