American Presidential Elections in a Comparative Perspective. Группа авторов

a search using “Trump” as the keyword on zhihu.com, China’s version of quora.com, returns 7770 question items, 999 of which are marked as recommended, that is, with detailed answers, and a total of 45000 regular followers. In comparison, “Clinton” shows 3010 questions, 1000 recommends, and 8949 followers, and “President Obama” has 900 questions, 424 recommends, and 2694 followers. While there must be some amount of overlap in the search results, there are 8182 questions, 999 recommends, and 22000 followers under the subject of the “2016 U.S. presidential election,” in contrast to only 120 questions, 57 recommends, and 121 followers for the “2012 U.S. presidential election.” All searches were done in Chinese. Accessed December 28, 2016.

3. The Chinese media were quick to seize upon their audience’s demand for information about the 2016 US election, just as they were enthusiastic themselves about reporting on this epic event. The public’s interest and the media’s frenzy combined to produce an enormous number of TV programs, debates, lectures, news reports, and commentaries that focused on the election. In terms of scholarly interest, a simple search using “the U.S. presidential election” as the keyword on cnki.net, China’s most robust digital library of academic journals produces 5878 published articles in 2016 and 7310 articles in 2015. All searches were done in Chinese. Accessed December 28, 2016.

4. In a regular press conference held by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in February 2016, the Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying was asked whether China was concerned about the prospects of Donald Trump becoming the Republican presidential candidate and eventually the US president, as he had delivered his share of anti-China rhetoric on the campaign trail. Hua responded by saying, “Just like anybody else, we are watching the ongoing presidential election in the United States with great interest. Since it is America’s own domestic politics, I will refrain from making any comments on the candidate’s rhetoric that has just been mentioned.” http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/web/fyrbt_673021/jzhsl_673025/t1342853.shtml, accessed December 28, 2016.

5. See, for example, Eduardo Porter, “A Trade War Against China Might Be a Fight Trump Couldn’t Win,” New York Times, November 22, 2016, http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/22/business/a-trade-war-against-china-might-be-a-fight-trump-couldnt-win.html?_r=0 and “Will Trump Start a Trade War against China?,” Global Times, November 13, 2016, http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1017696.shtml.

6. It is well known that the fundamental goals of Chinese foreign policy in the postMao era are to preserve China’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, and to create a favorable international environment for China’s domestic reform programs and development. In China’s conceptualization of “a favorable international environment,” the relationship with the United States has always occupied a central position.

7. Ni Feng, “Guancha Zhongmei guanxi fazhan de sange weidu” [Three Dimensions to Observe the Development of China-U.S. Relations], Shijie Jingji Yu Zhengzhi 8 (2006): 26–31.

8. Francis Fukuyama, “America in Decay: The Sources of Political Dysfunction,” Foreign Affairs 93, no. 5 (September/October, 2014): 5–26. After the publication of Fukuyama’s Political Order and Political Decay: From the Industrial Revolution to the Globalization of Democracy (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2014), Chinese scholars have written numerous articles reviewing and debating Fukuyama’s ideas and discuss the causes and consequences of America’s political decay. See, for example, Zhao Kejin, “Minzhu de kunhuo: Quanqiuhua shidai de Meiguo zhengzhi luoji” [The Puzzles of Democracy: The Logic of American Politics in the Era of Globalization], Meiguo Yanjiu [The Chinese Journal of American Studies] 1 (2015): 34–53.

9. Diao Daming, “2016 nian daxuan: Meiguo neizheng waijiao fengxiangbiao” [The 2016 U.S. Presidential Election: The Barometer of America’s Domestic Politics and Foreign Policy], in Meiguo Yanjiu Baogao 2016: 2016 Nian Daxuan Yu Meiguo Neiwai Zhengce [Annual Report of American Studies, 2016: the 2016 Election and America’s Domestic and Foreign Policy], eds. Zheng Bingwen and Huang Ping (Beijing: Social Sciences Academic Press, 2016), 5–6.

10. Xie Tao, “A Chinese Perspective on the US Presidential Election,” The Diplomat, August 26, 2016, http://thediplomat.com/2016/08/a-chinese-perspective-on-the-us-presidential-election/.

11. Shen Dingli, “Election a Chance to Evaluate US Democracy,” Global Times, October 18, 2016, http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1012141.shtml.

12. For a Chinese perspective on the Thucydides Trap, see, for example, Mo Shengkai and Chen Yue, “The U.S.-China ‘Thucydides Trap’: A View from Beijing,” The National Interest, July 10, 2016, http://nationalinterest.org/feature/the-us-china-thucydides-trap-view-beijing-16903?page=show. On the increasingly competitive nature of China-U.S. relations, one representative view was voiced by David Lampton, in his 2015 speech “A Tipping Point in U.S.-China Relations is Upon Us,” US-China Perception Monitor, May 11, 2015, http://www.uscnpm.org/blog/2015/05/11/a-tipping-point-in-u-s-china-relations-is-upon-us-part-i/.

13. Harry Harding, “Has U.S. China Policy Failed?,” The Washington Quarterly 38, no. 3 (2015): 95–122.

14. The American political drama was such a huge hit in China that even President Xi Jinping made a reference to it during his first state visit to the United States in September 2015. He used it again to reject claims that China’s anti-corruption campaign was in fact a “House of Cards” style of power struggle in 2016. See, Nick Gass, “Xi-Jiping House of Cards Joke,” Politico, September 23, 2015 http://www.politico.com/story/2015/09/xi-jinping-house-of-cards-joke-213961, and “China’s Xi Jinping Denies House of Cards Power Struggle but Attacks ‘Conspirators,’” The Guardian.com, May 3, 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/04/china-xi-jinping-house-of-cards-attacks-conspirators.

15. Liu Xin, “Chinese Public Glued to US Election Debate for Entertainment,” The Global Times, October 20, 2016, http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1012765.shtml.