US President-elect Donald Trump plans to overhaul the government with a new department headed by billionaire Elon Musk and Indian-origin entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
This team will be the biggest threat to China, as it will have to compete with the far more efficient American political system. A policy advisor to the Chinese government made this comment.
According to Zheng Yongnian, China’s top academic and policy advisor, the biggest threat to China during Donald Trump’s second term will be the reshuffle in the US government led by Musk and Ramaswamy.
“A more efficient US political system will put enormous pressure on China’s current system,” Zheng, dean of the School of Public Policy at the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Shenzhen campus, said at the Beichuan Forum organized by the Institute for International Affairs (IIA) on Saturday.
“Of course, the pressure is not limited to China, but also to other countries, especially Europe,” he said. Trump nominated Musk and Ramaswamy to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Both have already planned to eliminate “thousands of regulations” and reduce the size of the government workforce. “In the medium to long term, the biggest pressure on China may come from changes within the United States,” Zheng said.
Zheng said that if Trump succeeds in his efforts to reform the government, the US will “develop a new, more competitive system”, calling it a form of “government capitalism with American characteristics”. “I think we should not underestimate the institutional reforms that people like Musk have prioritized,” he warned, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported on Sunday.
China is preparing on several fronts for Trump’s second term, which begins on January 20 next year, including threatening to raise tariffs to 60 percent on its annual exports to the US worth more than $427 billion. Trump had adopted a tough stance towards China in his last term.
Trump is expected to take tough steps against Beijing on various global fronts, including Taiwan and the South China Sea. China considers Taiwan part of its mainland and claims ownership of much of the South China Sea.
Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also claim this area. In new measures to deal with the stringent provisions of the incoming US government, China on Friday added nine more countries, including Japan, to its unilateral visa-free entry scheme, taking the total number of countries with the facility to 38.
Zheng said China should open up countermeasures to counter America’s internal changes.
Zheng said Trump could damage bilateral relations by imposing taxes but “he does not want to go to war with China”. However, according to Zheng, geopolitics is a “tool” for Trump. He said he expected them to continue to escalate tensions in the South China Sea and around the Taiwan Strait. Noting China’s rapidly growing defense capabilities, Zheng said, “he does not want to go to war with China.”
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