I’m surprised China wouldn’t want Trump to hang around for a 2nd term; he is wreaking havoc on the network of allies that would be crucial in containing Chinese aggression. It may be less about Trump himself, though (who once said that the Uighur concentration camps were a good thing), and more about his advisors: Pompeo, Bolton, Cruz, Rubio, etc. all are/were fervently anti-China hawks.
China doesn’t have the goods to blackmail Trump with like Russia does. And they know that Russia is the real enemy and that Trump is their pawn. Of course they’d prefer Obama’s VP. Things were sweet for them back in the day.
Russia’s a dysfunctional authoritarian state on its way down - they want to break you like they’re broken so they can stay near-ish to the top of the power heap.
China’s a functional authoritarian state on its way up - they reckon they can take you even if you’re functional.
The thread title is slightly misleading. There is a subtle difference between wanting Trump to lose and rooting for Biden. Russia and China view this election the same way most Americans do. In short, it has nothing to do with Biden; just Trump winning or losing.
China is basically rational. A dysfunctional US is a negative for everyone, unless your only metric for “winning” is that others are doing worse than you (see: Russia).
Even a functional US isn’t going to pose a significant threat to China’s interests, whether in the South China Sea or elsewhere. But a dysfunctional US is a poor trading partner, and a threat with respect to climate change. I don’t see China damaging their own interests just to keep the US down. Russia does–or rather, their kleptocrats look after their own interests at the expense of Russia itself.
Sure, but in practical terms opposing one is the same as favoring the other. No third-party candidate will win. If one opposes Trump, that fortunately-or-unfortunately means supporting Biden and vice versa.
The primary difference between what China is doing about its preference and what Russia is doing about theirs is an important distinction.
China is exercising above-board, open expressions of preference.
Russia is actively working (and has never stopped) to subvert, hack and sabotage our elections, passing false information to Republican Senators, who are in turn acting as Russia’s useful idiots to slander Biden with false information and a false investigation.
Big difference. Which one do you think we should be more worried about in 2020?
An argument I’ve heard is that countries that oppose us militarily want Trump, because he’s a destablizing influence that reduces our foreign power. But countries that want to trade with us (and possibly beat us that way) want Biden, because trade requires a stable US.
China was doing pretty well pre-Trump, and they want a return to normalcy, he says.
