China seeks to enhance cooperation with its neighbors and get close to Europe

US President Donald Trump has implemented his promise to impose additional customs duties by a minimum of all imports, while imposing higher proportions on countries that are considered “hostile” in particular in commercial issues.

The increase is enormous for China, whose products will be subject to a new import tax of 34%, added to the 20% customs duties imposed by Washington previously, and imposed a 20% tax on European Union goods, 24% on Japan, 26% on India, and 46% on Vietnam.

In anticipation of any economic damage that may be caused by it, China is seeking to strengthen its relations with some of its neighbors and establish its position as a global leader of free trade.

But China is also taking advantage of the strategic area provided by the decline in the United States -led global order, which may thwart its attempts to get closer to Japan and South Korea.

Close cooperation

During his recent speech to a group of world business leaders in Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping presented his country as a lawyer for free trade.

The Chinese, Japanese, and Southern Korean ministers met, and agreed on close cooperation on a future free trade agreement and the promotion of regional and global free trade, according to a joint statement later issued.

The Chinese official media reported that the three countries will also cooperate in responding to Trump’s customs duties, which sparked a state of panic in Washington.

But it seems that reading the meeting is not compatible with the Japanese and South Korean novels that focused on cooperation in the field of free trade in general. A South Korea spokesman said that the Chinese report includes “some exaggerated aspects.”

This meeting is the first economic debate among the three regional powers since 2019, due to the Kofid-19 disorders and political doubts.

“Double hedge”

Japan is in particular trying to what an analyst Tobias Harris calls “double hedging”, that is, an attempt to get close to both China and the United States. Meanwhile, South Korea has continuous political chaos, and therefore it is unable to take any long -term strategic position.

There is a great test of the extent to which other Asian powers are ready to work with Beijing on free trade. China has applied to join the comprehensive and progressive partnership agreement across the Pacific in 2021, but its joining was rejected due to severe opposition from Tokyo and other members.

The comprehensive and progressive partnership agreement across the Pacific Ocean has emerged from the “Pacific Partnership Agreement”, which was the work of the team of former US President Barack Obama for years to build it, before Trump withdrew the United States from the 2017 agreement with the start of his first presidential term.

The other parties in the Free Trade Agreement revived them under the name of the comprehensive and progressive partnership agreement through the Pacific Ocean that entered into force in 2018.

Trade as a weapon

However, the purpose of the comprehensive and progressive partnership agreement in part was to maintain the American economic leadership in Asia, and to provide a unified bloc in the face of China’s commercial policies.

Now the main problem of the Pacific and Progressive Partnership Convention lies in Trump’s economic intransigence, not Beijing, and this may eventually mean allowing the Great power to oppose China to intervene.

China criticized the United States for using trade as an opposition weapon, although this is an approach that Beijing followed on several occasions, such as its punishment for Norway for granting Chinese dissident Leo Xiaopo the Nobel Peace Prize, and South Korea for the deployment of an American anti -missile regime.

However, China’s pragmatism may appear an attractive ally if the United States competes with the rest of the world.

Military measures

In fact, Chinese military measures may thwart its promotional efforts, and it is unlikely that Tokyo or will be reassured that Beijing is seeking to settle in the region after a surprise round of training around Taiwan, which the Chinese People’s Liberation Army described as a “strict warning and strong deterrence” against those seeking the independence of the island.

China launched military exercises within its marine borders this year, including live ammunition maneuvers in the waters between Australia and New Zealand, both of which are party to the Pacific and Progressive Partnership Agreement.

The confirmation of the People’s Liberation Army may be proactive if China believes that Trump’s willingness to abandon his old allies includes Taiwan, but it may also be just a reaction. Taiwan is a central issue in the internal Chinese policy, to the extent that the People’s Liberation Army has become responding to any transformation, such as the measures that Taiwan recently announced against Chinese espionage and influence.

Equal opportunities

To confront Trump’s trade war, China is also seeking to get closer to Europe, postponing its investigations to combat dumping on certain French goods, as well as its meeting with European Commissioners to discuss guarantee equal opportunities. This contradicts China’s approach to Canada, which is still unlike it. It is unlikely to form a unified front between China and Europe, but even limited coordination may weaken American pressure.

A recent simulation by the new US Security Center has found that the United States came out of a sudden global trade war suddenly when China failed to extract the influence of other governments, but simulation is one of the best tools for understanding and predicting behaviors, and this result may assume an unrealistic level of rationality and the ability to cooperate by Washington. About “Fourn Polsia”

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Attracting American scientists

China is seeking to attract American scientists while the administration of President Donald Trump has reduced American scientific research, as Chinese cities seek to attract talents, which provides a more stable and generous environment.

A poll conducted by the “Nature” magazine showed that 75% of American scientists surveyed are already thinking of leaving the country.

China has always sought to attract foreign talents, which the United States tends to portray as an attempt to spy, and this is sometimes true, but scientists in China are also undergoing world leading research in many fields, yet there are obstacles to the transfer of scientists in the beginning or middle of their career to China.

First: The paths of permanent residence for foreigners in China are almost non -existent, not to mention the nationality. Second: Chinese laboratories have continuous problems related to research fraud despite repeatedly announced government repression campaigns. Finally, the Chinese scientific culture is also institutionalized.

. It is unlikely to form a unified front between China and Europe, but even limited coordination may weaken American pressure.

. Trade Ministers in China, Japan and South Korea agreed to cooperate on a future free trade agreement.