Todd Bishop
US President Donald Trump met with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He at the White House in early October and said that it would be best to sign an agreement at the Chilean APEC Summit. However, the Chilean government announced on October 30 that it would cancel the APEC summit this year due to domestic protests. This means that the Chinese dollar is the first time and platform for a scheduled agreement.
However, Trump also said at the time that the first phase may also be signed in advance, or it may be signed after the summit. On October 29, a Trump government official revealed to Reuters that the United States and China are still trying to reach a transitional trade agreement, but may not be able to sign in time when the two heads of state meet. If it cannot be signed in Chile, it does not mean that the agreement has collapsed. It just means that the two sides are not yet “ready.” However, the official also mentioned that the two sides are making good progress and the goal of the United States is to sign in Chile, but sometimes the text is not ready.
It can be seen that when Trump government officials responded to the topic of “Chilean’s signing of the first phase agreement,” the statement would be reserved. This is a skill or strategy of American politicians or diplomats to avoid any unintended consequences with any exact answer. This includes different voices and opinions in the US on the first phase of the agreement negotiations.
On October 29, Ron Wyden, a Democratic member of the US Senate Finance Committee, wrote to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, trade representative Robert Lighthizer, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. The cabinet chief asked the Trump administration to clarify whether its cabinet officials would link the US-China trade negotiations with the former Vice President of the investigation, Joe Biden, to tap the latter’s black material. Wyden said he was “deeply concerned” about Trump’s government officials because their statements showed that Trump attempted to link his personal political interests with efforts to reach an agreement to end the US-China trade war. Wyden asked the Trump administration to give an exact answer by November 8.
The two officials that Huaiden said are White House trade consultant Peter Navarro and White House China affairs informal adviser Michael Pillsbury. Bai Bangrui once mentioned to the US conservative media “Fox News” that he raised Biden during his visit to Beijing and received information about Hunter Biden’s business activities. But then Bai Bangrui denied to the media that he had received any information about Biden and only said that he was joking. In the same week, on October 3, Trump expressed China’s willingness to investigate Biden’s father and son.
In an interview with CNN on October 24, Navarro was asked whether the US-China trade negotiations involved Biden or his son Hunter Biden, but he declined to give a clear answer. Navarro said at the time: “You don’t have the right to know what the Trump administration is doing behind closed doors.” On October 29th, the American media “Wall Street Journal” asked Navarro whether he knew that the US-China trade negotiations involved Biden. Navarro responded by saying “I don’t know.” Larry Kudlow, the White House’s chief economic adviser, also previously denied that the US-China resumption of trade talks has nothing to do with Trump’s desire to investigate Biden in China.
Biden promised on October 13 that if he is elected to the White House, his family members will not establish any business relationship with foreign companies or the government, nor will they allow their families to set up offices or attend cabinet meetings in the White House. His son, Hunter Biden, said in a statement by a lawyer that he would dismiss the position of director of the private equity firm Bohai Huamei (BHR). If his father is elected president, he will not work for foreign companies any more.
The Republican government of Trump accused China of interfering in the US mid-term elections at the end of 2018. Pompeo repeated this allegation this year, arguing that China and Russia intend to interfere in US democratic elections. Even Trump has repeatedly mentioned that China does not want him to be re-elected and hopes that the United States will replace a new president to end the trade war. These are the unilateral accusations of the Trump administration. They have never produced conclusive evidence. At most, they are trying to divert the domestic sight and make excuses for the unsuccessful trade negotiations.
With the launch of impeachment investigations and hearings, more and more broke the news that “Trump has a deal with Ukraine and asked the latter to investigate the Biden family.” The Democratic Party is worried that this possible deal will also be staged between the United States and China.
The Democrats were the most hated of the external forces’ interference in the US elections, because they lost the White House in 2016 and based on this, they once promoted the “TongRumen” investigation. Now, they are worried that the Trump administration will use trade negotiations as a bargaining chip to encourage China to investigate Biden and serve its own political interests. This once again highlights the Democracy’s paranoia for China.
But China is not Ukraine. As an ally of the United States against Russia, Ukraine has been blackmailed by the United States in many respects, and even internal anti-corruption has been pressured by the United States. The exchange of blackmail and irregular interests in the United States does not work at all in China.
China will definitely not incorporate trade-related issues into the negotiation process, and China does not interfere with the principles of other countries’ internal affairs. Trump hopes that China’s desire to investigate Biden has long since fallen. Moreover, Trump is only expressing the willingness of China to investigate Biden and his father, not a blackmail or mandatory requirement. When he met with Liu He, he also explicitly mentioned that topics such as Biden and Huawei were not included in the negotiation of the first phase of the trade agreement.
But even so, the Democrats still hold on. On the one hand, the Democrats do not trust Trump, fearing that he will sell American interests to China and reach an unbelievable behind-the-scenes deal. But in fact, the current trade negotiations are completely led by the trade team, and it is the final sprint stage, the effect is obvious. They will never interfere with the negotiation process because of the controversial topic of investigating Biden.
On the other hand, they even distrust China and believe that China’s trade agreement is not credible enough, or that China will use Trump’s weaknesses to threaten US national security and economic interests. This is determined by the Democrats’ ideological discrimination against China. They not only underestimated Trump, but also continued to miscalculate China.
