Speaking at the Republican National Convention in July 2024, Donald Trump invoked China 14 timesDuring a 92-minute speech, the former president reiterated his widely criticized phrase “Chinese virus“for the COVID-19 pandemic, said China was stealing auto jobs and touted how his administration had beaten China on multiple fronts.
China was also among the keynote speeches at the 2024 Democratic National Convention. On the first night, President Joe Biden said that when he came to power, “the prevailing view was that China would inevitably overtake the United States.”
“Nobody says that now,” he added.
Kamala Harris, Democratic presidential candidate echoed this sentiment on the final night, saying that if elected, she would ensure that “America, not China, wins the competition for the 21st century.”
Inasmuch as expert on how China is represented in American media and political cultureI think the fact that China is gradually creeping into the electoral discourse is hardly surprising – any more than the imbalance in the importance given to the country by the Democratic and Republican lists, respectively.
A proven electoral strategy
From Biden withdraws from presidential raceDemocratic candidates have apparently limited their references to China during their election campaigns, unlike their Republican counterparts.
Trump and his Republican allies have long used China to position themselves as anti-communist and to polish their “America First” For Trump, in particular, it’s a tried-and-true electoral ploy. In the run-up to the 2016 election, Trump brought up China so often that the Huffington Post produced a mashup video of the candidate repeating “China” 234 times.
This situation continued during the current election cycle.
Besides frequent mentions in speeches by Trump and others, the GOP 2024 Platform The Republican platform emphasizes “guaranteed strategic independence from China” as a key commitment, limiting trade and investment and “countering China” to “restore peace through strength.” In contrast, other perceived adversaries such as Russia and Iran were not mentioned in the official Republican platform.
In the meantime, Project 2025 – the political plan of the conservative Heritage Foundation often associated with Trump, although his campaign deny connection – mentions China no less than 483 times in a 922-page document. official website It even highlights the goal of “taking on China” on the “About” page.
Neither “dragon slayer” nor “panda hug”
It was therefore not surprising that elements of the American media that were pro-Trump jumped on the news that Tim Walz, the Minnesota governor chosen to be Harris’ running mate, has previously taught in China and has visited there about 30 times since 1989, including his China trip. honeymoon.
Although Walz said he was “neither a “dragon slayer” nor a “panda hugger”“When it comes to China, conservative commentators described Walz as a “Marxist” that would make communist China “very happy.” Fox News host Jesse Watts even called on Walz to submit an FBI background check because of its links with China.
On August 16, House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer, a Republican, opened an investigation in Walz’s “long-standing ties” with China.
The Great Chinese Waltz? Not Really
Ties that some Republicans find suspicious include Walz’s Educational Travel Adventures company with his wife, Gwen Walz, from 1994 to 2003. The company they founded helped students from small towns in the U.S. travel to China to learn about the country. history and cultureWalz also served on the Congressional-Executive Commission that oversees human rights in China while he was a House Representative.
Although constantly criticism of the Chinese governmentWalz also acknowledged that the U.S.-China relationship does not have to be adversarial and that there can be “many areas of cooperation.”
Despite his extensive China-related experience, the Democratic vice presidential nominee has yet to mention China in his key campaign speeches – China was not present at his party’s congress speechContrary to the speeches of Harris, Trump and Walz Vice Presidential Rival J.D. Vance.
Walz’s apparent reluctance to highlight his knowledge of China also contrasts with the actions of a previous Republican presidential candidate, Jon Huntsman, who served as ambassador to China and is fluent in Chinese. During his 2011 campaign, arguably at a different time in U.S.-China relations, Huntsman repeatedly demonstrated his ability to speak Chinese and was often praised for this.
Harris’s Great Leap Forward, Not Backward
One reason for the difference in the importance given to China by the two presidential candidates is, I believe, the different way the election is being conducted. For Democrats, the upcoming vote is about movement—they project a choice between going backwards or going forwards. Slogans such as “we are not coming back“position the United States and its people as marching toward a future of unity, promise, and opportunity that they believe leaves behind the chaos, division, and repression of the past.
In this context, China’s role as a threat is anchored primarily in the area of competition in the high-tech sector; Harris’s mentions of China in his convention speech concerned future in space and artificial intelligence.
In contrast, the Republican campaign is more focused on protecting an imagined Americanism against foreign forces, which is why we hear more of Trump and Vance talking about the much-dramatized ““invasion” of immigrants crossing illegally borders and “bring in” drugs and crime.
The same logic, I believe, underlies the Republican Party’s frequent invocation of China as a geopolitical and economic threat.
After all, Trump has long attributed many actions to the Chinese government, calling it the creator of “Wuhan virus“to blame him for having produced the”prank” climate change. In his speech at the convention, Vance directly linked China to illegal cross-border drug traffickingAt a rally in Michigan on August 27, he also accused Harris said he was using taxpayer money to pay “the Chinese Communist Party to build factories on American soil,” ignoring the fact that the Republican-led legislature developed the program.
This characterization of China corresponds to what I called the “racialization” of the Chinese state in my book “Disorienting policy. “The rhetoric portrays China as a powerful agent committing nefarious acts that can only harm America.
“Everything has to revolve around China”
Over the past two decades, some American media outlets have confused the Chinese communist regime with the Chinese communist regime. with fascism and totalitarianism.
This “China virus” rhetoric in the United States during the pandemic has sparked a surge in reported anti-Asian racist attacks, showing that fear of a faraway place like China is manufactured. can also sow hatred towards people perceived to come from that place.
In that sense, Walz’s reluctance to discuss China may reflect a refusal to oversimplify that country’s complex society. “The best way to study people is to hear them talk about what it’s like where they live,” the former social studies professor said. in 1991while discussing a U.S.-China correspondence program with a local newspaper.
As the election season unfolds, the specter of China is likely to return even as more pressing geopolitical conflicts continue to dominate headlines.
After all, even one of Walz’s former students—a self-described “sleeping Republican” who tried to defend Walz against Republican attacks on his character—still advised the Trump campaign to focus on policy and “make it a china affair.”