WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th December, 2019) President Donald Trump's raising tariffs on US imports from China over the past year have set off a "multidimensional" conflict with Beijing, former State Department Director for Chinese Affairs Chas Freeman told Sputnik.
"From the Chinese perspective, this was a surprise assault: It has inaugurated a multidimensional conflict," Freeman, a former Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy who served as translator to President Richard Nixon on his first state visit to China, said.
The United States and China, the world's two leading economies, have been engaged in a trade war for more than a year over what Trump deemed unfair economic conditions and on alleged anti-competitive behavior from China - a charge that Beijing denies.
On December 13, Washington and Beijing announced that they worked out the Phase One trade deal that is expected to be signed in early January of 2020. As part of the deal, the two sides agreed to not introduce new duties that were planned to go into effect on December 15.
However, the ill-will and suspicion generated by the conflict over the past year have already made bilateral relations in other areas far more difficult, Freeman cautioned.
Also, both economies have been rocked by the impact of the sanctions, Freeman observed.
"In the first skirmish there have been a lot of casualties on both sides, with some of the wounded moribund, but there has been no advance by either side," he said.
The Phase One trade agreement announced by Trump last week did not resolve any fundamental economic conflict between the two countries and so the tariff war was likely to be resumed, Freeman warned.�
"Both sides are now taking a breath and regrouping for the next skirmish," he said.
Chinese and US policymakers were now considering next actions if a lasting agreement was not reached and the wider populations of both nations were suffering from growing worries over business prospects, Freeman pointed out.
"In an increasingly confused battle environment... noncombatant inhabitants have suffered significant collateral damage and are wandering around in a daze, unsure how to minimize damage from the next round of the war," he said.�
Trump had proven skillful at portraying the ongoing conflict as a victory for the United States, but in reality both countries were the losers, Freeman explained.
"In the short term, it's all about spin, now the supreme skill of our politics," Freeman said.
Chas Freeman is a lifetime director of the Atlantic Council and served as US Deputy Chief of Mission and Charge d'affaires at the US embassies in Beijing and Bangkok. Freeman also held several senior level positions at the Department of Defense.
