An Analysis On Trump Administration’s Strategy Of Maximum Pressure On China

"Maximum pressure" is the symbolic strategy of the competition between China and the United States in the era of the Trump administration.Whether it can make the United States occupies the dominant position in the strategic competition between China and achieves the strategic goal of containing China is the core issue of this paper.Donald Trump unleashed appalling anti-china discourse when he was elected as the United States’ President in 2016.Since Trump took the office,he has launched a "whole-government,whole-society" strategic competition with China.Such behavior of Trump administration has triggered economic war,trade war,scientific war,technological war and military frictions in the south China sea between China and the United States.Those frictions caused a sharp rise in tensions between the two countries.China repeatedly expressed the willingness that the economic and trade frictions should be solved by negotiation and the two counties have carried out a series of communications.Thus,China and the United States reached a settlement of the economic and trade frictions.It took almost two years to conduct 13 rounds of negotiation.The two sides signed the "text of the first phase of economic and trade agreement between China and the United States".The tensions between China and the United States were partially suspended.It can be said that the Trump administration’s "Maximum pressure" strategy on China is to exert pressure on China in multiple fields at high frequency and high intensity by all means.On the surface,the target of the "Maximum pressure" strategy is to achieve "fair trade" between China and the United States,but in deep level,it is to contain or regulate China.The Trump administration has focused on the political and diplomatic level,economic level,trade level,science level,education level,military level and security level,taken strong measures on China to achieve the goal of containing China.The "Maximum pressure" strategy is aimed at containing China.The use of the strategy started from the tariff friction between China and the United States,tried to change the negative trend of the trade deficit with China,and then expanded to politics,science,technology,military and other fields.The Trump administration wants to condense the strategic opportunity period of China’s development,and earn political capital to integrate and expand its domestic governance base.The "Maximum pressure" strategy is reversible and has a clear expression.The "Maximum pressure" strategy can not only control the negative trend of the tensions,but also leave enough space for the bargain with China.The use of "Maximum pressure" strategy is an inevitable outcome of the strategic competition between China and the United States in the Trump era.It also helps both sides make partial concessions in the competition and sign the first-stage trade text agreement.Trump government’s "Maximum pressure" strategy in China is still at a high level,tariff war has exerted strong damage to China’s economic.Meanwhile,the United States frequently interferes in China’s internal affairs such as Xinjiang issues,Tibet issues,Hong Kong issues and Taiwan issues.In the South China Sea,the United States infringed China’s sovereignty of islands and territorial seas lead to the confrontation situation many times.The United States also connected the DPRK nuclear issue with the economic and trade wars as a bargaining chip.The United States promoted the "China threat" in southeast Asia,serious harmed the China’s political stability and the favorable geopolitical environment around.However,it should not be oversimply cognizing that China is bound to be overwhelmed by the implementation of the "Maximum pressure" strategy.As an emerging power commits to self-reliance and development,China has a clear understanding of its long-term strategic goals and development path.Therefore,the game between China and the United States requires both sides to conduct strategic run-in,and the suspension of Sino-American tension is only a phased performance.The Trump administration is suffering from the high cost of the "Maximum pressure" strategy and needs to reduce its burden to maintain its power.Meanwhile,China is also faced with the heavy task of internal reform and the wear of external pressure in the current period of strategic opportunity.Therefore,the "Maximum pressure" strategy only plays a facilitating role in driving China to consider the overall situation and make partial concessions.The implementation of the "Maximum pressure" strategy also affects China’s neighboring multilateral diplomatic relations and the strategic competition between China and the United States is also shaping China-North Korea relation,China-ASEAN relation and U.S.-Japan-India-Australia relations,which has become a serious obstacle to the sound development of China’s neighboring geopolitical environment.Before the Trump administration,the United States always emphasized to welcome and accept the rise of a prosperous China and China’s neighboring countries including its Allies,were also riding on the tailwind of China’s development.They generally viewed China’s rise as an opportunity for regional development.However,under the Trump administration’s "Maximum pressure" on China,the political and diplomatic environment around China is tense.The Trump administration has replaced the "Asia-Pacific" strategy with the "Indo-Pacific" strategy and drawn in the United States,Japan,India and Australia to build a rhombus encirclement around China.In the name of "China Threat " the United States strengthened the relationship between the United States and ASEAN countries,linked the DPRK nuclear issue with the economic and trade relations with China,so as to achieve the dual purpose of separating the bilateral relations and containing China.It can be seen clearly that the promotion of the "Maximum pressure" strategy in China’s surrounding areas has,to a certain extent,created a situation unfavorable to China in northeast Asia and southeast Asia,damaged the favorable geopolitical environment in China’s surrounding areas.The implementation of the Trump administration’s "Maximum pressure" strategy on China will also affect the overall China-U.S.relation.At present,China and the United States have entered into a game of stalemate and no party can win in a short time.Moreover,the root cause of Trump’s "Maximum pressure" on China has not been completely resolved.The strategic competition between China and the United States is irreconcilable in the short and medium term.At the same time,in view of the United States to maintain hegemony,the high cost of "Maximum pressure",the need of Trump to earn political capital for his re-election campaign,we can anticipate the direction of the "Maximum pressure" strategy.1.Reduce the pressure to China and ease the tensions between China and the United States.2.China and the United States are trapped in a high-intensity competition game in the short and medium term.3.Maintain the status quo and build a new relationship.Of course,China does not want scenario 2.To ensure the success of scenario 3,we need to be clearly aware of the fact that the U.S.has not weak yet and China has not been strong enough.China needs to change the pressure into drive-force and seize the period of strategic opportunities.Make clear the bottom line of the game and resolutely safeguard national interests,lead the competitions between China and the U.S.to the "positive sum game",Deepen reform and innovation and open wider to the outside world,building a community of Shared future for mankind through participation in global governance.