The damage caused by Donald Trump to the United States’ reputation is creating opportunities for China, particularly with regards to Taiwan, according to a retired senior colonel from China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
Speaking to the Guardian in Beijing, Zhou Bo said that Trump was damaging the US’s reputation “more than all of his predecessors combined”.
“By the end of his second term, I believe America’s global image will simply become more tarnished, its international standing will just go down further,” Zhou said. The people of Taiwan “know that America is going down”, which “might affect their mentality” with regards to China.
There might be one party looking from the outside, but on the inside there are many currents, and as soon as there’s a power vacuum, those currents will infight to gain power.
Yup. and the classic paradox of authoritarian systems is that if you name and train your successor, they’ll sideline (I mean kill/imprison etc) you before your time is over, and if you make sure there’s no clear successor, power vacuum is guaranteed.