The two biggest economies in the world are China and the US. They have the two most powerful army in the world. The US-China competitiveness, in the perspective of many foreign experts, will be the defining international theme of the 21st Century.
However, only one of the two main party presidential candidates is speaking up frequently about US-China scheme as he has done for years.
Republican nominee Donald Trump has mentioned China 40 days in his five gatherings since the political controversy earlier this month, according to a review by BBC Verify. He brought up the country 27 days in just one minute at a town hall conference in Michigan next year.
And when he talks about China, Trump focuses on matters of tension between the two world powers, painting the state and the nation’s second-largest business, as a kind of financial prey.
Does he return to the White House, he has discussed the new levies he plans to establish on exports from Chinese firms and those from other countries.
He has stated that he wants to stop the sale of Chinese-made vehicles because he thinks that likely stifle the American car market. He has cautioned China against trying to take the place of the US dollar as the country’s supply coin. And he has attributed the Covid crisis to the Chinese authorities.
Some economists question Trump’s tax ideas ‘ viability and warn that the latter would ultimately harm US customers. However, Trump’s message is intended for blue-collar voters in important business Midwest battleground states who have experienced the effects of increased Chinese manufacturer competition.
However, according to BBC Verify, Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, has not mentioned China at any of her six rallies since the 10 September argument. Although, in a statement on the market in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday evening, she made a handful of links to the region.
” I will not hesitate to take sharp and powerful actions when China undermines the rules of the road at the expense of our staff, areas, and firms”, she said at that event.
When asked for comment, a vice-president’s aide told the BBC that even if Harris does not constantly discuss China, she has a track record of working to stop what they called China’s efforts to undermine international stability and prosperity.
The distinction between Trump and Harris on the plan path is undeniable when it comes to discussing China.
On Monday evening, at a house in Smithton, a little town in rural northern Pennsylvania, Trump sat down with a group of native landowners and farmers for a roundtable discussion especially about China.
The area may be just an hours outside of Pittsburgh, a Democratic Party industrial stronghold, but this was very Democratic territory. While Trump supporters decorated two horses in” Make America Great Repeatedly” gear, cows grazed peacefully on grasses lined with lots of” Trump for President” symptoms.
The topic of the event, hosted by the Protecting America Initiative, a liberal think-tank, was” the Chinese Communist Party’s growing menace to the US food supply”.
The discussion ended up being a more topic-focused discussion about the risk of China, point blank. The panel’s members complained about having to compete with strongly subventioned Chinese goods and about the poor quality of Chinese products.
The former president reiterated that he would use tariffs to protect the American economy from China, despite the fact that he did n’t spend much time addressing the perceived risks of Chinese ownership of US farmland. He instead promised to persuade Chinese President Xi Jinping to increase US agricultural exports.
He once mentioned the necessity of protecting the US metal market in order to get ready for a fabled war with China.
What will we do if we need military vehicles, boats, and other items made of steel while we’re at war, go to China and get the material, you ask? he asked. ” We’re fighting China, but do you mind selling us some material”?
Richard Grenell, a Roundtable panelist and senior consultant for the Protecting America Initiative, handled some of the heavier pulling on China during the conference.
He warned that the nation has “quietly but effectively” used its weight against the US, especially when other global issues were distracting Americans.
” They go after our local and state lawmakers, they go after our manufacturing”, he said. ” There is no question they are looking to, at some point, utilize that purchase and exercise”.
Grenell, who previously served as acting director of national intelligence and adviser to Germany for Trump, is viewed as a potential secretary of state if Trump wins another term in office in November.
On the other hand, if Harris wins, the recent Biden administration might not have experienced considerable change, despite the president’s tendency to use more jarring language to describe the US-China conflict.
Joe Biden has identified China as one of the monarchies competing with the nation’s leading governments in what he describes as a traditional global turning point since the beginning of his presidency.
According to common opinion polls, China ranks low on the list of issues British voters care about – dwarfed by the economy, immigration and care.
Only 14 % of electors in key electoral battleground state cited China as their top national security concern, according to a recent National Security Action review. Immigration ranked third at 38 %, followed by the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, which both had a 28 %.
That may be a contributing factor to Harris ‘ apparent lack of interest in talking about China as she has tries to establish herself during her shortened presidential campaign as well as Trump’s attempts to connect his China plans, mainly taxes, to an economic ball.
After the Trump event in Smithton, Bill Bretz, head of the regional state Republican Party commission, said that while China may not be at the bottom of voting issues in Pennsylvania, it was essential for Trump to talk about it.
As the largest up-for-grabs electoral prize, Pennsylvania is perhaps the pivotal state in the 2024 presidential election. Without it in their column, it will be difficult for both Trump and Harris to win the White House. The two candidates are currently shown in a dead heat there.
” The majority of people have already picked the camp that they’re in, but there are those group of people that are undecided”, he said. I believe it’s a great idea to raise if China is a” tro that sways the scale one way or the other.”