Make China Great Again! OK, this isn't Donald Trump's official campaign slogan. But it has a nice ring to folks in Beijing quietly rooting for a Trump White House.
That's not the official Chinese line, of course. Rather, The Donald is the "irrational type" and Washington "wouldn't be entitled to world leadership" if Americans elected a trade-war-happy reality TV star so spectacularly unqualified for the presidency, Finance Minister Lou Jiwei told the Wall Street Journal.
In reality, that would suit Beijing's global ambitions just fine. Four years of Trumpist lunacy wouldn't be fun for President Xi Jinping. Trump's threats to impose 45 percent tariffs, claw back manufacturing jobs from the mainland and pledge that "all trade and other agreements will be totally and completely renegotiated" would be a drag while he carries them out. But the longer-term payoffs will be even greater than the soft-power windfall the Communist Party enjoyed following America's overreaction to 9/11.
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