LONDON ¨C Donald Trump¡¯s stunning victory in the U.S. presidential election has shaken the world. From Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto¡¯s conspicuous silence to French President Francois Hollande¡¯s statement that it opens up a ¡°period of uncertainty¡± to the Kremlin¡¯s barely concealed giddiness, Trump has not been received internationally like past presidents. But one country has remained largely unmoved: China.
Trump¡¯s stance on China is well known: He has blamed the country for everything from hacks on his opponent (thought by the U.S. government to be the work of Russia) to climate change (which he has called a hoax cooked up by China to undermine U.S. competitiveness). And he has promised to impose a 45 percent tariff on Chinese goods.
Yet prudence flows through China¡¯s Confucian veins. Rather than jumping to conclusions about future U.S. policies, much less taking premature action, China¡¯s leaders have remained neutral in their response to Trump¡¯s victory. They seem confident that, though the bilateral relationship will change somewhat, it will not be fundamentally transformed. It will still be neither very good nor very bad.
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