00:00U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hexeth recently made clear that Washington does not seek conflict with China,
00:07a significant shift that signals the White House is looking for more ways to coexist.
00:12Amid trade tensions and geopolitical rivalry, Dr. Benjamin Barton of the University of Northam, Malaysia,
00:19dissects the latest developments in U.S.-China relations and where they may be heading.
00:25The first administration, it was a lot more, I would say, aggressive, pushing China on different fronts,
00:31including the trade war back then. And also, I think the U.S. was a lot more active in the region under Trump.
00:39This time around, there seems to be somewhat odd differences in the sense that, of course,
00:45Trump is not going to show himself to be weak on China because part of his base, the MAGA base,
00:50wants him to be tough on China. Congress is tough on China.
00:53But, you know, between the way that the U.S. backed down in the tariff escalation
00:59and between some of Trump's rhetoric on, let's say, the commemoration of World War II recently in Beijing
01:04on that particular conference there, Trump was full of praise for China.
01:10I think that, and also, I think the general disinterest as to what's happening in the Indo-Pacific,
01:15which in the first administration was really a big part of Trump's foreign policy agenda,
01:19now doesn't really seem to have as much kind of motion and traction to it,
01:24that indeed we should be reading between the lines that the stance on China has, I think,
01:30softened to a certain extent. I think Trump is looking for other things from China this time around
01:35and more towards the legitimization of his own rule in the U.S.
01:39So that's how I think we should interpret the developments.
01:44Looking ahead, Benjamin expects ties to improve, though some areas will remain key flashpoints.
01:50Across certain sectors, notably if you look at tech, the U.S. and China are rivals and they see each other like that,
01:58and that's not going to discontinue.
01:59If you look at the sanctions, which started under the first Trump administration,
02:04they carried over during Biden's term as president, and then Trump has, of course,
02:09continued and enhanced the scope of sanctions as well.
02:12So, of course, there's the ongoing rivalry. It's there.
02:15But as a general rule, I think Trump is going to go easy on China,
02:19and he's going to allow China a free pass.
02:22I mean, again, you know, drawing comparisons between the two terms.
02:25In the first time, there was so much going on on Hong Kong,
02:28on the treatment of the Uyghur Muslim minority in Xinjiang province.
02:33You know, it wasn't just about imposing sanctions on Huawei or ZTE.
02:38It was all-encompassing.
02:40It was really a sense of containment on China.
02:43I don't see that now.
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