The Hong Kong pro-democracy newspaper the Apple Daily published an editorial this week arguing that Donald Trump must be reelected as the free world depends on his confrontational stance with China. (Read here)
You might remember that the owner of the Apple Daily, Jimmy Lai, was arrested by the Chinese government in August under a new security act for running an openly pro-democracy newspaper. He is one of many being persecuted by China for daring to question its rule over the city.
The Apple Daily editorial supporting Trump was no aberration. Protest leaders in Hong Kong that I have spoken to are very effusive of Trump, seeing him as the first American president to openly confront a hostile and belligerent Beijing.
Yet there are already people dismissing the concerns of the Hong Kong protest leadership and people like Jimmy Lai for being ‘naive.’
These western commentators say that the students in Hong Kong and across Asia are pro-Trump because they do not understand the intricacies of US politics and how destructive Trump really is.
That is highly condescending considering the young people of Hong Kong, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Thailand are at the forefront of the fight against Beijing’s growing hegemony.
To assume that they don’t understand how destructive Trump is to the US’ social fabric is arrogant, to say the least.
There are no illusions when it comes to the current US President. The braggadocious, thin-skinned, angry personality isn’t particularly well hidden.
But for the people of Asia, self-interest comes before the social fabric of another country.
After all, at the height of the Cold War, how many dictatorships did the United States support (sometimes over elected governments) in their pursuit of their own self-interest.
Furthermore, Joe Biden hasn’t particularly struck a chord with the people in Asia.
Perhaps it’s because he is soft-spoken and not as confrontational at Trump. After all, Trump speaks in angry rhetorics that the Beijing government responds to, not the diplomatic-speak that is easily dismissed by Xi Jinping’s government.
Or perhaps the reason people in Asia haven’t responded to the prospects of a Biden Presidency because for eight years he was part of an Obama administration that did not seek confrontation with Beijing even as its Xinjiang policies were beginning to take shape and its unfair trade practices made virtual colonies out of countries in Africa and the Asia Pacific.
It is not too late for Biden, however, he still has time before the November election to make it clear to the world where he stands on China and Asia.
His campaign has already released a manifesto about confronting China on the Uighur and Hong Kong issues. That is good.
But the manifesto also said it would not continue the trade war that Trump has engaged in recklessly with Beijing. That is not so good.
Because the trade war has been the only thing that Beijing has responded to and the US would be silly to get rid of such an important weapon in its arsenal. It has put a stop to Huawei’s intrusive technology, has temporarily slowed the stealing of intellectual property, and has made Asian countries find different trading partners from China.
If the trade war is stopped, all the US would have left are punitive sanctions and empty rhetoric at a time when all around Asia, China has continued its aggressive policies from Hong Kong to the South China Sea to its borders with Nepal and India.
Biden’s lack of clarity and history with the Obama administration makes the people around Asia being threatened by China’s growing might quite uneasy.
If the Democratic nominee does get elected and he discontinues the trade war and instead continues Obama’s strategy of appeasement with Beijing, then the Apple Daily editorial will be spot on and the people of Asia will be hoping for a Trump reelection.
