U.S. Presidential Election: Reactions from Asia, Live from Hong Kong, AP Rafael Wober

  • 3 years ago
홍콩, 중국, 대만, 북한이 바라보는 미 대선: 홍콩 현지 AP기자 연결

Donald Trump is not a U.S. president who has courted international support.
Pursuing an openly nationalist "America First" policy, he has overtly insulted half the world.
But for some in southeast Asia, a shared enemy in China means they are willing to still throw their support behind him.
Let's find out more. Joining me live from Hong Kong is AP affiliate, Rafael Wober.
Good evening, Raf.
You've been in Hong Kong most of the past twenty years.
What's the feeling among people there towards the U.S. election and the candidates this time?
- HK leader Carrie Lam commented today about HK caught between China and US
- On fringes of HK society, not mainstream, some see Trump and his administration as standing with HK, against Chinese Communist Party new National Security Law and other pressure on HK
- At the other extreme, HK government has increasingly followed Chinese Communist Party style to complain about “foreign forces” interfering in HK, including US
- But think that have to take into account overall community, including business owners, people who want to continue to travel and study in US, and in general, think that overall image of US remains stable, they can live with Trump or Biden
But, what about the bigger picture, Raf? For mainland China and Taiwan around this historic election?
- Trump’s presidency has seen greater than usual strain between Washington and Beijing. China often has often reacted angrily to US trade policy and other steps to control Chinese business, academia in the US, but at same time has made conciliatory statements appealing for stability and rationality. But so far no real conciliatory action. In particular, this year, over Coronavirus and Hong Kong, China and US have moved further apart.
- From Chinese point of view, continuing with Trump is unpredictable. A change to a President who displays more conventional behaviour could be easier, whatever the politics and disputes are. Even if Biden is under pressure to show that he is tough on China.
- And a more conventional US president might not continue the public engagement with Taiwan that has been another departure of Trump’s administration.
Lastly, how does North Korea look at all of this? You have been there more than a hundred times, what kind of expectations could there be in Pyeongyang? How does Pyeongyang, normally, watch the U.S. elections?
- Nkorea normally doesn’t go public about US presidential election until the inauguration, and officials in past years would often only say “it doesn’t matter who the President is, until the US changes its hostile policy towards us, there’ll be no difference.”
- Nkorea has insulted Biden this year and last, but that is not significant, although the language was strong, that can easily change.
- Obviously Trump has done something new with Nkorea and made a big impact..

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