The election of Donald Trump as the United States' next president not only raises huge questions about America\u2019s relations with the world\u2019s second largest economy, China, but traditional allies in the region as well, analysts say. On the campaign trail, Trump routinely attacked China over its trade policies and practices, pledged to designate Beijing a currency manipulator on his first day in office and levy punishing import tariffs on Chinese goods. Trump was also very critical of the United States\u2019 military allies in the region. WATCH: Trump's Win Sends Shockwaves Around the World Good, bad news Trump\u2019s election is both good news and bad news for China, said Ethan Cramer-Flood, an associate director for The Conference Board's China Center and Asia Programs in Beijing. "The good news for China is that a Trump presidency will most likely mean the end of the Trans Pacific Partnership, a regional free trade grouping that Beijing was excluded from and has yet to be finalized," he said. "China sees the grouping as a threat to its own regional trade ambitions." \u201cThe bad news on Trump\u2019s rhetoric and trade globalization is that it was directed at China,\u201d he added. Trump argues that international trade deals have hurt U.S. workers and the country\u2019s competitiveness. He also says that he will renegotiate or scrap the North American Free Trade Agreement, the 1994 free-trade deal with Mexico and Canada. One of president-elect Trump\u2019s toughest pledges regarding China was to impose a 45 percent tariff on Chinese imports. Cramer-Flood says that while the pledge could be used as a bargaining chip with China to renegociate a new trade relationship with Beijing, it\u2019s implementation raises the risk of a possible trade war and driving both economies into a recession. Trump\u2019s pledge to withdraw from the TPP would please China, it would be a serious blow to the other 11 regional signatories of the trade pact, analysts say. "There's a whole range of relatively outlandish statements that Trump said during his campaign that if they were to come to pass could create some pretty dramatic business and economic consequences for the region," Cramer-Flood said. China\u2019s Foreign Ministry says it looks forward to working together with the new U.S. administration to, as it puts it, \u201cpush forward a consistent, healthy and stable China-U.S. relations.\u201d Chinese analysts on state media, however, were less certain about where the direction of the relationship was heading. They say the United States' withdrawal from the TPP would be an opportunity for China\u2019s \u201cOne Belt, One Road\u201d project, which seeks to grow sea and land trade links from China, but noted the uncertainty of a Trump presidency would last much longer than it usually does. Trump is not a typical Republican, they say. Shi Yinhong, a political scientist at Beijing\u2019s Renmin University, said Trump\u2019s election will have a very negative impact on both the world\u2019s political and economic situation and that even harder economic times could be on the horizon. \u201cIn this context, China will face very severe financial and economic difficulties,\u201d Shi said. Pay for friendship During the U.S. presidential campaign Trump was very critical of America\u2019s military allies South Korea and Japan, accusing them of not bearing enough of the financial burden for forces stationed in their countries. Trump suggested he would pull troops and allow allies in the region to develop their own nuclear weapons if they did not agree to pay the U.S. more for protection. He also denounced the U.S.\/South Korea free trade agreement as unfair to American companies and workers. There was not a pro-Trump supporter to be found among Koreans attending a U.S. Embassy election watch party in Seoul. Many of the of the 400 Korean college students and professors who attended the U.S. Embassy watch party in Seoul described themselves as opposing Trump\u2019s disruptive positions on the close U.S. \/ South Korea alliance, rather than favoring Clinton who promised to maintain the status quo. Trump\u2019s surprising election victory shocked and concerned many Koreans who were following the results. \u201cThis result is not what I expected [and not] what I want. I don\u2019t want my country to be affected by American politics, by any changes of American politics. That\u2019s why I am against Donald Trump,\u201d said Han Seung-hee. Alliance reassurances U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert tried to reassure Koreans that the 60-year-old alliance will remain strong. \u201cIt's been through ups and downs,\u201d he said, but \u201cit will always get stronger. I am confident that that trajectory will continue.\u201d The South Korean presidential office at the Blue House also called a meeting of the National Security Council on Wednesday afternoon to discuss the potential impact of the U.S. presidential election, according to officials in Seoul. While meeting with members of Parliament, South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se said on Wednesday that he believed Donald Trump would maintain the current U.S. policy of pressuring North Korea over its nuclear and missile tests. "Trump has indicated that the greatest problem facing the world is the nuclear threat and members of his national security team hold the position that favors applying strong pressure against the North," Yun said. Asia re-pivot pivot In China, analysts note that many of the hawks and nationalists are excited about a Trump presidency because of what they see as isolationist global view. They also see Trump\u2019s \u201cpay for friendship\u201d approach to relations with Japan, South Korea and the Philippines as benefiting Beijing\u2019s own ambitions in the region. \u201cSome in China feel that they will have an opportunity to come and fill in those spaces as the Trump team sort of withdraws or creates new tension points,\u201d said Cramer-Flood. But he believes that view is a bit speculative of a view at this point. "I wouldn't expect that Donald Trump on day one is going to sort of disengage America from Asia or just withdraw geopolitically, but you might see less,\u201d he said. \u201cYou know, you might see a semi-disengagement. Less interest in the South China Sea for instance." Renmin University\u2019s Shi Yinhong said that while some believe Trump could alienate U.S. allies in the region, benefiting China, he thinks that is likely to only be temporary. \u201cJapan perceives that it faces a China threat and South Korea faces the North Korean threat. They have no other way, they have to pay money,\u201d Shi said. \u201cAfter their payment, Trump will be very pleased to further strengthen military alliances with South Korea and especially Japan.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The election of Donald Trump as the United States' next president not only raises huge questions about America\u2019s relations with the world\u2019s second largest economy, China, but traditional allies in the region as well, analysts say. On the campaign trail, Trump routinely attacked China over its trade policies and practices, pledged to designate Beijing a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14524,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14523"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}