China's view of US elections weighed by trade ties

Ding Chenling, an investor of the US market and prominent blogger, told the Associated Press three years ago before President Donald Trump visited China that Trump as a businessman and China as a business state would get along well in doing business.

In the past three years, Ding has seen things going the other way.

He said Chinese upper and middle-class people have close ties with the US, either in business or in personal exchanges.

"People are so concerned because the last three years have been so much affected (by the relations)," Ding told the Associated Press.

He said many of his friends believe Trump is responsible for the current tension between the two countries and don't want to see him re-elected as the president.

"They have bad feelings about him," Ding said.

The embattled state of relations between the world's two largest economies weighs heavily on China's views of the U.S. election.

While a change of administration offers no guarantee of relief, Beijing hopes to avoid further deterioration and see negotiations put on an even keel.

"If Biden is elected, I believe he will ease the relations between the United State and China," said Qu Zhan, a healthcare consultant.

Many believe the election will not break the impasse, however.

"Because China has become stronger, the US wants to confront China on the economic front and threaten China with military means," said Xing Zhenghe, a retired Beijing resident.

"Whoever becomes the US President, he will make decisions based on its own political interest, so there will not be a big change in the attitude towards China," said Sun Jin, a financial worker.

Donald Trump embraced long-standing concerns about Chinese commercial espionage, forced handover of technology and state subsidies for Chinese companies.

He elevated them into a high-stakes tariff war launched in 2018, and last year tightened controls on Chinese purchases of chips and other components.

Yu Zhi, Professor of  Business School of the Renmin University of China, said attitudes towards Trump among the Chinese are polarised.

He said some dislike him because they believe Trump is the one who has made the relations difficult, but others believe what Trump wants from China will eventually benefit China.

"They believe Trump is the one who will force internal reforms in China," said Yu.

Yu said while China will not yield on certain issues concerning the political system and its ambition to become a global leader, China and the US will still get back to the table for the negotiation of the second phase trade deal.

The two reached an agreement in January to suspend the trade war, in which China pledged to boost US imports and strengthen its intellectual property rules.

In exchange, the US agreed to suspend some of the new tariffs on Chinese imports.

"I think it will benefit the bilateral relations of China and the US if the two can restart the second-phase trade talks," said Yu.

Ding Chenling met Trump and the First Lady in June 2017 during a presidential banquet for Chinese businesspeople at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C.

He remembers a firm handshake with the president and is still hopeful the leaders of the two countries will start to talk real business when the election is over.

"They have to do business with China," said Ding. "It's not because they want to do business with China, it's because the interest groups, the corporations, the people who give money to the politicians - they want to do business with China."