Chinese state-run paper Global Times says Beijing preparing for ‘final act of madness’ from Trump

A hawkish Chinese state-controlled news tabloid is warning readers that Beijing is preparing for a "final act of madness" from Donald Trump in the waning days of his administration.

The Global Times - which is owned by the Chinese Communist Party and known for its inflammatory editorials - claimed that Chinese officials were preparing for Mr Trump to sabotage Joe Biden's tenure by attacking China.

"Trump is actually setting a trap or planting a landmine for the Biden administration," Shen Yi, a professor at the School of International Relations and Public Affairs of Fudan University, told the Global Times.

The paper claims Mr Trump will attempt to use his executive powers to disrupt the Chinese technology industry in the US and may try to implement a punishment on China for imprisoning Uighur Muslims in labour and "reeducation" camps.

According to the Global Times, the scheme would force Mr Biden into a position where he has to either begin his presidency with a tense relationship with China, or undo Mr Trump's orders and risk being seen as a "Panda Hugger" for being soft on China.

What the paper fails to understand about US politics is that Mr Biden will be hated by his political critics regardless of his actions, which buys him a certain amount of freedom to reverse whatever policies he deems necessary.  

However, John Ullyot, a spokesman for the National Security Council, believes the plot will work.

"Unless Beijing reverses course and becomes a responsible player on the global stage, future U.S. presidents will find it politically suicidal to reverse President Trump’s historic actions," he said.

Mr Trump's views on China have been complicated and sometimes contradictory. In the past, Mr Trump praised Chinese President Xi Jinping, saying "we love each other" and claiming in January that the US's relationship with China has "probably never, ever been better."

However, once the coronavirus pandemic began in the US - by January China was already dealing with the coronavirus - Mr Trump's tone soured on China as he attempted to shift blame on US failures to control the virus onto Beijing.

Since then, Mr Trump and his administration have tried to paint China as the scheming, irresponsible cause of the virus. Trump and his allies began calling the virus the "China Virus" and used racist phrases like the "Kung Flu" when discussing the pandemic. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo nearly derailed a meeting of G8 delegates because he tried to force them to refer to the virus as the "Wuhan Virus."

In addition to his coronavirus rhetoric, Mr Trump has also been engaged in an on-and-off trade war with China for the past two years.

William Reinsch, a trade expert at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies and former president of the National Foreign Trade Council told CNN the trade war was ultimately a failure for the US.

"The bottom line is that the tariffs caused a lot of collateral damage in the US and did not achieve their intended objectives," he said.

More recently, Mr Trump issued an executive order prohibiting US investments in Chinese firms.

Sources speaking with Axios claim Mr Trump will attempt to add more sanctions on Chinese companies and restrict trade further, justifying the move by citing China's human rights abuses tied to its imprisonment of Uighur Muslims.