Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

Growing nationalism in China could embolden Xi Jinping, says ex-US ambassador

A former U.S. ambassador to China, Max Baucus, told CNBC: “Don’t forget ... Chinese (are) very patient historically, they’ll wait it out, they’ll play lots of different angles. They’re going to try to hang in there, waiting for President Trump to come to them.” A sense of nationalism is growing in China, and that could bolster support for those hoping to wait out the trade dispute with the U.S. There are also trust issues between China and the U.S. as Beijing perceives Trump as unpredictable, said Baucus.

A sense of nationalism is growing in China, and that could bolster support for those hoping to wait out the trade dispute with the U.S., said Max Baucus, a former American ambassador to China.

“Don’t forget … Chinese (are) very patient historically, they’ll wait it out, they’ll play lots of different angles. They’re going to try to hang in there, waiting for President (Donald) Trump to come to them,” he told CNBC on Monday.

“There’s a feeling that nationalism is getting a little stronger … I think that’s also emboldening President Xi,” said Baucus, who served as ambassador to China from February 2014 to January 2017, under former President Barack Obama’s administration.

In fact, the sentiment on the ground in China is that Beijing could be in it “for the long haul,” he said. “The Chinese (are) beginning to want to wait out Trump,” said Baucus. He added that China might be perceiving that the U.S. is in a weaker position — its economy might be worse than current indications, and American farmers appear to be taking a big hit from the tariffs.

China on Sunday imposed additional duties on certain U.S. goods on a $75-billion target list, while U.S. tariffs on $112 billion of Chinese imports also took effect the same day.


Unpredictable Trump

There are also trust issues between the two sides as Beijing perceives Trump as unpredictable, said Baucus.

“From China’s perspective, China ... has a hard time trusting President Trump, who keeps changing his mind. He pulls out the rug from under his negotiators ... The Chinese are afraid to reach a deal with this president — it may not last, they can’t count on it, he might change his mind again,” Baucus said.

“If there’s another administration, they think it might be better in the sense that it’d be more predictable, there’d be less uncertainty. It’d be more standard negotiations,” he continued. U.S. presidential elections are slated to take place in November 2020, with much debate on whether both parties would come to an agreement before the polls.

Earlier this month, Baucus told CNBC that China “can withstand more pain” than the Americans.

His recent comments echoed the sentiment of other analysts, who have said China’s best option is to play the long game — by tapping the power of its domestic economy rather than depending on external trade.

The decline in exports — a result of the trade war — hasn’t made much of a dent in China’s gross domestic product growth, they said. On the other hand, the country’s consumption is increasingly contributing to its economy, they added.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
×