(Deutsche Welle Chinese website) President Trump's efforts to relax restrictions on chip exports to China and shelve arms sales to Taiwan have long been controversial topics in Congress. An analysis published by the online news platform China Table before the midterm elections pointed out that once the Democratic Party regains the majority in Congress, Trump's various compromises with Beijing will face a severe test. This analysis article titled "U.S. Midterm Elections: Trump's Deal with China Faces Severe Test" writes:
"Early before the midterm elections, U.S. Democrats had questioned Trump's line on China. In September, after Xi Jinping ended his visit to the United States, some Democratic senators accused Trump of sacrificing U.S. technological supremacy for immediate commercial interests. The White House approved the sale of high-end chips and cores to China The decision to manufacture equipment for manufacturing equipment has particularly aroused strong criticism from Democratic politicians. At the same time, Democrats also demanded the release of an arms sale to Taiwan worth $14 billion that had been approved by Congress before, but the message sent by the Democrats was clear: Trump cannot treat the long-term interests of the United States as child's play just to please Xi Jinping.
Starting in January next year, the Democratic Party will be able to use its majority position in the House of Representatives to supervise Trump's China policy. At that time, they will have the right to have government officials come for hearings and investigate the basis for the president's exemption from tariffs. An analysis article written by William Alan Reinsch of the Center for Strategic and International Relations before the midterm elections pointed out that such proposals by the Democratic Party will put the government into a passive position.
Once the Democrats also win a majority in the Senate, they can also constrain Trump's China policy by enacting new laws. However, President Trump could also use his veto power to block such a law. However, in any case, various congressional investigations may overwhelm the government, greatly reducing the space for the government to introduce new measures.
The mutual constraints between Congress and the White House are particularly obvious on the Taiwan issue. Paul Heer of the Chicago Institute of Global Affairs said there has been a "loose cross-party consensus" in Congress that Trump has made too many concessions to Xi Jinping. However, Hull also said that whether Trump would care about congressional pressure is another matter. In the future, it is entirely possible that Trump will move closer to Xi Jinping at all costs. "
China Table's analysis article quoted Wu Xinbo, a political scientist at Fudan University, as saying that the defeat in the midterm elections may also inspire President Trump's determination to achieve political achievements in diplomatic fields such as Sino-US relations.
“Trump is likely to adopt a proactive strategy once he faces investigations from a Democratic-controlled Congress. For example, he may provoke a new tariff war.” Ryan Haas of the Brookings Institution Hass believes that in the field of trade policy, Trump is likely to adopt a "constant attack" strategy. He will use his presidential power to the extreme to avoid congressional investigations of himself and his government. New tariffs may be directed at Beijing, causing further changes in China-US relations, which have just stabilized. "
"Falling in love with a foreigner makes you a female traitor?"
After the news of an American Internet celebrity's suspected sexual exploitation of several Chinese women was exposed, the anger of Chinese online public opinion gradually turned towards those Chinese women with foreign partners, calling such women "national scum." Süddeutsche Zeitung wrote:
"Qian Huang, a media scholar at the University of Groningen, believes that behind this public opinion offensive is the need to establish clear behavioral norms for women: a 'good Chinese woman' should neither have sexual impulses towards foreign men, nor should she establish romantic relationships with them. Qian Huang wrote in a 2003 paper: Women who violate these expectations will be labeled as 'unpatriotic' online and ostracized.
Although women enjoy equal rights in many fields in China, patriarchal ideas are still quite stubborn. The party's top leadership is uniformly composed of men. The women's rights movement has now become a politically sensitive topic in China, and some women's rights activists have even been suppressed. One of the reasons behind this is that the government is worried that increasingly independent women will further lower China’s marriage and birth rates.
The discussion surrounding American student influencers and their treatment of Chinese women has another reason for embarrassment to China’s leadership. As recently as May this year, state media hailed the American student as the representative of a ‘new generation of foreign internet celebrities’. In the videos he produced, he portrayed himself as a "pro-China person" and deliberately distanced himself from Internet celebrities and media who were said to be smearing China. This statement temporarily allowed him to have unimpeded access in China, but now, his account has been turned private.
