As Trump Pulls Back, China Jockeys to Extend Its Clout --- Feeling empowered after a trade clash, Beijing aims to exploit U.S.'s inward retreat

“BEIJING -- China is flexing its muscles, showing new confidence fueled by a belief that President Trump's retreat from overseas commitments and his focus on the Western Hemisphere and trade deals create opportunities for Beijing.

 

As bonds between the U.S. and other democracies are strained, Beijing's new assertiveness also stems from pride over China's prowess in future-defining technologies, from artificial intelligence to high-speed rail and clean energy. Those achievements come in parallel with a rapid military buildup.

 

"Trump is pragmatic, and he sees China rising in hard power and also in soft power. By concentrating on the Americas rather than doing a pivot to Asia and spreading too thin on every front, by retreating while being on good terms with China, the Americans can still maybe maintain their dominance of global affairs for 20 or 30 years," said Wang Huiyao, founder and president of the Center for China and Globalization think tank in Beijing.

 

The turning point, the consensus in China's foreign-policy establishment holds, came after a confrontation over trade tariffs, rare earths and export restrictions ended with a temporary truce struck by Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea in October.

 

This climbdown from what one U.S. official described as "an economic equivalent of nuclear war" -- barriers that would have deprived China, and the U.S., of vital materials and components -- has ushered in a new era in Sino-American relations, many Chinese analysts believe: By striking back hard, China has demonstrated its might, earning peer status for the first time and forcing America to retreat.

 

This celebratory mood might be premature, China's more cautious strategists say, pointing to the slowdown in the country's economic growth and the tensions bubbling under the surface of its tightly controlled society. Despite the rise of MAGA isolationism under Trump, some of them say, the fundamental nature of the U.S.-China rivalry remains intact.

 

In South Korea, Trump surprised China's leadership by speaking of a "G-2" condominium with China in world affairs -- language that Xi floated at the Sunnylands summit in 2013, just to be rebuffed by President Barack Obama, who viewed it as an abandonment of U.S. allies and of Washington's global role. Trump's endorsement of the G-2 concept signals a recognition of China's new status, said Wang Dong, executive director of the Institute for Global Cooperation and Understanding at Peking University.

 

If MAGA prevails and the Trump administration follows through by formally renouncing the idea of strategic competition with China in the new national-defense strategy, such a pivot would mark the most fundamental shift in U.S. strategic thinking since the end of the Cold War, if not even the end of World War II, he added.

 

"MAGA ideology is about saying farewell to the liberal internationalism, dismantling the liberal order, withdrawing from overcommitment all around the world, putting forces back into the Western Hemisphere -- that's the new operating concept," he said.

 

China couldn't be happier if that happens, of course. In this new environment, where Trump appears more interested in selling American soybeans than in protecting Taiwan, the takeover of the island democracy by Beijing becomes a much more achievable goal, perhaps without a fight, many Chinese officials say.

 

Spooked by events in Ukraine, some Taiwanese are turning toward Beijing. Cheng Li-wun, the newly elected leader of the island's Kuomintang party, which holds a plurality in parliament, has taken a more pro-Beijing line than her predecessor.

 

China's new confidence comes amid disarray in the democratic world. Trump's embrace of Russia has frustrated European allies, and his new opening to Beijing spurred fresh alarm in Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines and South Korea. Asked in a Fox interview about a social-media post by a Chinese diplomat suggesting that Japanese Prime Minister Sanae should be beheaded, Trump said on Nov. 10 that "a lot of our allies aren't our friends. . .Our allies took advantage of us on trade more than China did."” [1]

 

1. World News: As Trump Pulls Back, China Jockeys to Extend Its Clout --- Feeling empowered after a trade clash, Beijing aims to exploit U.S.'s inward retreat. Trofimov, Yaroslav.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 04 Dec 2025: A9.