America's China-bashing Republican presidential hopefuls are full of hot air
Paul Letters says Republican contenders are spouting a China policy that bears no relation to the on-the-ground realities
History tells us that the next US president should be a Republican. At the end of every two-term presidency since 1954, the electorate has changed to the party in opposition on all occasions bar one.
Mao Zedong privately told Richard Nixon he preferred Republicans: "I am comparatively happy when these people on the right come into power." In reply, Nixon boasted that "the important thing to note is that in America … those on the right can do what those on the left talk about." However, in the race to be a 2016 presidential nominee, it's the right who are talking loudly - but they can't deliver.
Republican candidates are cheered to the rafters on each occasion that they reaffirm their overinflated sense of American narcissism, most readily through China-bashing. Nobody does it with more gusto than the GOP's current front runner, Donald "Make America Great Again" Trump.
Trump declared that "China has rebuilt itself with the money … and the jobs that it's sucked out of the United States." Vote for Trump and he vows to return Chinese jobs to the US by imposing tariffs on American companies that manufacture overseas. And to combat the price advantages a devalued renminbi brings China, Trump would increase protectionist taxes on Chinese imports.
It's beyond the imagination of the rational that Trump will win the nomination, but the deeper concern is the other candidates who are clamouring to out-Trump each other on economic policy and foreign affairs.
The Grand Old Party must wake up to the modern world - and to modern America - to offer relevant leadership
Ahead of President Xi Jinping's visit to Washington later this month, Florida Senator Marco Rubio promises to expand the defence budget and end the growing threat posed by China's military.
