He wants to show China can withstand the economic pain, according to experts.
Xi Jinping is playing hardball.
The Chinese president wants to show his people that the country can withstand the economic pain from President Donald Trump’s tariffs and stand up to what Beijing is calling America’s „bullying“, according to experts.
Trump’s trade war also feeds into the strategy that Xi has been working on for years: become less reliant on the United States.
This breakdown in trade is „exactly what Beijing has been preparing for“, said Jude Blanchette, director of the RAND China Research Center. „Beijing is not looking for negotiation.“
The world’s superpowers are engaged in a risky game of chicken, experts . The question is who blinks first.
„At the moment, Xi seems to be calculating that China can withstand the damage and that ultimately it’s the United States who will blink first“, said Neil Thomas, a fellow for Chinese politics at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis
Xi’s view is that countries will want to do business less with the U.S. because of the uncertainty created by tariffs, which will drive them toward China, said Thomas, who added that China has been preparing for this possibility for years by growing trade relations with the rest of the world.
