Will US midterm results lead to disruption in Washington’s ties with China?

The United States’ midterm elections are unlikely to deliver a “disruptive” shock to relations between Beijing and Washington despite potential volatility over the issue of Taiwan, according to a prominent Chinese expert in US studies.

Chen Dongxiao, president of the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, said any shift in the make-up of the US Congress would mainly complicate President Donald Trump’s domestic agenda.

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The global impact of the coming US midterm elections under Donald Trump

The impact on foreign policy would be “relatively limited” as the White House leader would retain considerable discretion in that area, he pointed out in an interview published on Wednesday.

“The midterms may reshape the political landscape in Congress, but they won’t necessarily deliver a massive, disruptive blow to China-US relations,” Chen told The Paper, a digital news outlet owned by the state-run Shanghai United Media Group.