A Study Of Trump Administration’s Strategic Competition Policy Towards China

In view of the US’s dominant position in the international order and the overall impact of Sino-US relations,rationally grasping and responding to the US’s China policy should become one of China’s key concerns in the process from wealth to strength.After Trump came to power,the new U.S.government changed its understanding of China’s strategy,abandoned the post-Cold War engagement or hedging policy,proposed a new policy on China’s strategic competition,from unilateral,bilateral,and multilateral levels,and advanced this policy in a variety of political,economic,and security areas.Facing the new reality of the Trump administration’s strategic competition policy towards China,this article positions strategic competition at the theoretical level and discusses the background,goals,reliance,implementation performance,characteristics,effectiveness,development trends,and China’s response of the Trump administration’s strategic competition policy against China based on the logic of policy or strategic research.According to the two criteria of recognition or disrespect for the pursuit of the status of the rising power,and the tolerance or restriction of the growth and use of the power of the rising power,the strategy of the hegemonic power against the rising power can be divided into four types: hedging(engagement),competition,accommodation and ostrich.When adopting a hedging strategy,the hegemonic power recognizes the pursuit of the status of the rising power,in order to soften the latter’s rising intention,but it will also take restrictions on the growth and use of the power of the rising power;when implementing the accommodation strategy,the hegemonic power will recognize the pursuit of the status of the rising power and will not limit the latter’s strength growth and use;when adopting the ostrich strategy,the hegemonic power is unwilling toacknowledge the status pursuit of the rising country and does not want to limit the latter’s strength growth and use.When a hegemonic power implements a competitive strategy against a rising power,it not only means that it will suppress the enthusiasm of the rising power in the process from rich to strong,and maintain its leading position in the international order,but aslo will work hard to limit the way and scope of the use of power by the rising countries,and the hegemonic countries will even take measures to disrupt the development process of the rising countries and eliminate the potential challenges of the rising power to themselves from the source.The essence of the hegemonic power’s competitive strategy is to despise the status of the rising power and pursue enthusiasm,and to restrict the growth and use of the power of the rising power.Containment strategy is only a special manifestation of competitive strategy during the Cold War.We should avoid using this type of strategy in a specific historical space-time as a criterion for judging competitive strategy,and thus ignore the true essence of competitive strategy.The Trump administration’s strategic competition policy toward China is the result of the interaction of many factors,historical and practical.The strategic practice of long-term operation and protection of hegemony has enabled the United States to have a strong sense of protection of hegemony,which makes it easy to view China’s rise from a zero-sum perspective.The Trump administration’s disappointment on engagementing or hedging China’s policies,the strategic response to the "China Policy Debate" and the self-confidence in "extreme pressure China" have also encouraged it to compete strategically in China.The fear that the narrowing of the relative strength gap between China and the United States,the anxiety brought to United States caused by China’s diplomacy to the United States and the panic brought to the United States by the rise of China’s international influence,also stimulated the Trump administration to want to ease the pressure brought by China’s rise through strategic competition policies.The essence of the Trump administration’s strategic competition policy towards China is to despise China’s growing international status,and to restrict and delay the useand continuous growth of China’s power to maintain its hegemonic position.In the political arena,the Trump administration wants to offset China’s regional influence,maintain its dominant position in the Indo-Pacific region,strengthen management of regional allies,shift domestic political contradictions,and gain political benefits for himself through strategic competition with China.In the economic field,the Trump administration wants to use strategic competition with China to lock in China’s development momentum,check and balance the "Belt and Road" initiative,and maintain the competitive advantage of the US economy.In the security field,the Trump administration wants to squeeze China’s security space,strengthen military deterrence against China,maintain its strategic reputation,and shift alliance costs.Although the United States is experiencing relative decline,the United States still maintains strong soft and hard power,which provides it with a variety of strategic competition policy measures against China.In order to suppress China’s status and influence,and limit the growth and use of China’s power,the Trump administration has implemented a strategic competition policy for China from multiple levels and in various fields.At the unilateral level,the Trump administration proactively provoked trade frictions and pressured China in terms of technology,trade,finance,and cultural exchanges in order to suppress China’s economic pursuit of the United States;the Trump administration also stepped in Hong Kong,Tibet,Xinjiang,and Taiwan affairs,challenging the "One China" principle,in order to diversify China’s strategic energy and even disrupt China’s development process;the Trump administration has also increased defense investment,proposed new defense concepts,increased the layout of the network,space,and nuclear fields,and launch a military "offset strategy" against China to maintain its military advantage.At the bilateral level,the Trump administration not only increased the layout of China’s periphery and increased China’s geological risks with the help of the “Korean nuclear issue”;it also managed to divorce Sino-Russian relations in order to shape a favorable“strategic triangle”relations for the United States;it also strengthened relations withEast Asian allies such as Japan and South Korea,in order to use the strength of the alliance to check and balance China.At the multilateral level,the Trump administration has not only launched the "Indo-Pacific Strategy",but wants to use the US-Japan-India-Australia Quartet Dialogue mechanism to balance China’s regional influence and check the implementation of China’s "Belt and Road" initiative;it also tries to strengthen ASEAN by drawing With Vietnam,the Philippines and other allies and partnerships to balance China’s influence;it is also actively leveraging the US-Japan-European trilateral coordination and "poison pill provisions" and other mechanisms and methods to squeeze China’s development at a global level.The Trump Administration’s strategic competition policy towards China has demonstrated the characteristics of repression of competition objectives,comprehensiveness of the competition field,aggressiveness of competition means,and the nationality of the competition subject.So far,although the Trump administration’s strategic competition policy towards China has brought some strategic pressure on China’s politics,economy,and security,it has not effectively achieved its set policy goals,and even brought itself many negative effects.The reason is mainly due to the difficulties of the Trump administration’s strategic competition policy towards China,such as the intensification of domestic political polarization,which has restricted the implementation of the U.S.strategy;the United States has a variety of domestic and foreign commitments that have led to its strategy towards China has’ t insufficient resources;regional allies and partners are reluctant to choose a clear border between China and the United States,so that the United States cannot obtain sufficient regional support;China’s practice of peaceful development,etc.According to the framework proposed in the article,looking forward to the development trend of the Trump administration’s China policy,this article believes that the risk of the Trump administration intensifying its strategic competition with China is increasing in the short term.After a period of time,the United States may implement new hedging policy towards China,and the United States is less likely to accommodat to China’s rise.China needs to respond rationally to the Trump administration’s strategic competition policy towards China.First,China needs to form a set of thinking framework to respond to the Trump administration’s strategic competition policy towards China,and provide strategic guidance for implementing specific response strategies.In this regard,China needs to continue to adhere to peaceful development.Do own thing through development and lay a solid foundation for coping with the new pattern of pressure from US hegemony;enhance the "performance legitimacy" of China’s rise through peaceful development,bring development opportunities for more countries,and soften the US panic about China’s development to reduce the legitimacy of the U.S.strategic competition policy toward China.China also needs to maintain strategic self-confidence.Neither pessimistic nor blindly and confidently handles the Trump administration’s strategic competition policy towards China.Instead,it starts from its own interests and actively shapes the development of Sino-US relations on the basis of respect for the interests of the United States.In this regard,China can provide a set of "China Initiatives" with the core principle of "cooperation and win-win" for Sino-US interactions,and optimize Sino-US interactions from various aspects including economics,politics,and security.China also needs to adhere to the strategic bottom line and dare to conduct a rational,favorable,and structured struggle with the Trump administration’s provocation of China’s core interests,and through this struggle,the United States will form a rational and objective expectation for China.Secondly,under the guidance of the above-mentioned strategic thinking,China should proceed from various aspects and specifically respond to the Trump administration’s strategic competition policy towards China.For example,China needs to continue to deepen the reform and opening up process to lay a foundation for strength in response to the strategic competition policy of the Trump administration;China can steadily develop partnerships with Russia,the European Union,Japan,and India to ease the strategic competition of the Trump administration pressure,and use of partnerships to soften U.S.perception of China;China also needs to actively implement policies such as strategicreassurance and the “ Belt and Road ” initiative from the perspective of the“Community of Destiny” to create a friendly surrounding environment to prevent Trump administration’s pressure on China by taking advantage of surrounding events.