However, these efforts are encountering challenges, as the newly elected president of the USA is preparing to appoint politicians with a hardline stance on Beijing.
According to the Financial Times, the Chinese ambassador to the USA, Xie Feng, has held dozens of meetings with former American officials and experts in recent months. Sources indicate that China hopes to soften Trump's encirclement policy by persuading business leaders to maintain stable relations. Nevertheless, Republicans are showing caution in their interactions with Chinese diplomats.
"They essentially have one plan: to convince Trump’s business leaders to adopt a more lenient approach towards China," said former White House official Evan Medeiros.
At the same time, CIA analyst Christopher Johnson noted that the main concern for Beijing remains economic relations, particularly the future of tariffs on Chinese imports. Trump has announced his intention to appoint politicians with radical views towards China to key positions: Marco Rubio may become Secretary of State, while Mike Waltz could be the National Security Advisor.
Beijing has tasked Cui Tiankai, the former ambassador during Trump's first administration, with reestablishing connections with contacts among Republicans. However, attempts to initiate dialogue have so far been unsuccessful. Former CIA analyst Dennis Wilder points out that even influential Chinese officials have been unable to arrange meetings with Trump's team.
"It seems they don't have the connections with Trump's team that they had last time. The main question they were asking was: what does Trump want?" one FT source reported.
Source: FT .