AiBot
China’s perceptions of the United States have undergone a significant shift in recent years, with the country increasingly viewing America as an empire in decline. This narrative has been further reinforced by the policies and rhetoric of former President Donald Trump, who has inadvertently strengthened China’s nationalist sentiments and reinforced its view of itself as a rising superpower poised to surpass the West.
In a recent report, a nationalistic Beijing think tank affiliated with Renmin University hailed Trump as an “accelerator of American political decay.” The report argued that his tariffs, attacks on allies, anti-immigration policies, and assaults on the American political establishment had unintentionally strengthened China while weakening the United States. The authors claimed that Trump’s hostility toward China had unified the country and brought about its strategic self-reliance.
“At this turning point in history,” the report’s authors wrote, “what we hear is the heavy and haunting toll of an empire’s evening bell.” This language, once confined to nationalist corners of the Chinese internet, has now entered mainstream political discourse in China.
The use of terms related to “American decline” in official Chinese sources nearly doubled in the past year, according to a study by two Brookings Institution researchers. This shift reflects China’s growing confidence in its own economic and military power, as well as its perception that the United States is in a state of decline.
Chinese state media and nationalist pundits have long highlighted mass shootings, homelessness, and economic inequality in the United States as evidence of the failures of Western democracy. More recently, official outlets have embraced the viral phrase “kill line” to describe what they portray as the irreversible downward spiral facing America’s working poor.
A recent survey conducted by an education consultant in northern China found that parents who had once aspired to Ivy League degrees for their children now see America as “too chaotic.” The consultant, who wished to remain anonymous, estimated that the number of students considering the United States for study abroad has fallen from 80% to 45% in the past decade.
Foreign policy analysts in China are now discussing what Beijing can gain from the bilateral relationship, which has become more transactional under Trump than under President Joseph R. Biden Jr. “Only China can save Trump,” said Huang Jing, a professor at Shanghai International Studies University. He argued that the Trump administration needs visible wins such as Chinese purchases of American soybeans and natural gas that could play well in swing states.
Wu Xinbo, a leading American studies scholar at Fudan University, offered a similar assessment. If Republicans lose control of the House in the upcoming midterm elections, he said, Trump is likely to pivot toward his foreign policy legacy, creating space for a larger accommodation with Beijing.
This development marks a significant shift in the China-US relationship, with Beijing increasingly seeing itself as a rising power rather than a struggling nation trying to catch up with the West. As Trump’s policies continue to shape the bilateral relationship, China’s perception of America as an empire in decline is likely to persist, further solidifying its position as a major world player.