America’s transformation under President Donald Trump has parallels with Mikhail Gorbachev’s reforms in the last years of the Soviet Union, and the effects will be felt throughout the democratic, regional and international orders, a prominent Chinese political scientist has warned.
Zheng Yongnian, dean of the public policy school at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, described the US as undergoing a “Trumpian transformation” marked by “comprehensive and unprecedented” shifts in party politics, defence strategy and ideology.
In an article published last Friday in the Greater Bay Area Review, a social media account affiliated with the university, the political commentator said that deep structural tensions building in the United States during the post-Cold War era could only be resolved “either through radical reform or through an even more radical revolution”.
“Whether this revolution will unfold in a controlled manner, evolve into a genuine revolution or end halfway remains to be seen,” Zheng added. “What is certain, however, is that this revolution … must be profound. “Otherwise, it will fail to address the structural crises confronting the US.”
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