Strange Bedfellows: Why Chinese Nationalists and Liberals Both Like Trump?

• In Event: Re-assessing Chinese Politics: Change and Continuity

Abstract

The 45th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump is a divisive figure domestically and internationally, contributing to political polarization among citizens across the political spectrum. However, in China, both liberals and nationalists have overall demonstrated a pro-Trump inclination based on existing literature and our observation. This is puzzling because (1) both liberals and nationalists in China have reasons to dislike Trump—he is ideologically illiberal while being hostile toward China; (2) Chinese nationalists and liberals do not see eye to eye, especially on U.S.-China relations. This paper addresses these entangling puzzles by exploring popular perceptions of Trump among Chinese, especially among nationalists. The empirical analysis of the paper includes two parts. First, through analyzing content produced by nationalist social media influencers and user comments, we reveal how Chinese nationalists portray Trump and why they support him. In contrast to previous studies that find liberal Chinese supporting Trump primarily out of ideological motivation to liberalize and democratize China, we find nationalists believe Trump facilitates China rise (and U.S. decline) and is more charismatic than Biden. Second, using data from an online survey, we explore how Chinese citizens overall resonate with the nationalist and liberal mechanisms by testing how personal charisma, nationalist interest motives, and ideological orientation condition Chinese citizens’ favorability toward Trump (or Biden). Our research contributes to better understanding of Chinese popular opinion on U.S.-China relations amidst the grand strategic completion between the two powers as well as the growing literature on global Trumpism.

Authors

• Rongbin Han, University of Georgia

• Juan Du, East China Normal University

• Dongshu Liu, City University of Hong Kong

• Li Shao, Zhejiang University