China-US trust issues threaten hope of successful diplomatic backchannel: Joerg Wuttke
Finding an effective backchannel between
Beijing and Washington is difficult because of the challenges of finding an intermediary trusted by both sides, according to a seasoned China observer and former top business leader in China.
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'I think there is no backchannel at this stage outside normal diplomatic places … I don't see at this stage the attempt from both sides,'
Joerg Wuttke , former president emeritus of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, said in an interview with the South China Morning Post.
'And it would be hard to find a person that is trusted on both sides to explain Donald Trump to Xi Jinping, and to explain Xi Jinping to Donald Trump. It has to be someone who is knowledgeable in both cases, senior enough to have the ear of both presidents. And I don't see this yet,' said Wuttke, who spent more than three decades in China before moving to Washington last year.
Joerg Wuttke is the former president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China. Photo: Simon Song
Wuttke, who is now a partner at consulting agency DGA Group in Washington, said the individual who could serve as a backchannel had to be someone under the media radar.
He said the last person qualified for the task was
Elon Musk , whom he described as 'loud' and more 'on the front page'. The billionaire and close
Trump adviser has business ties to China and close relationships with senior Chinese officials, leading to early suggestions he might be a bridge between Beijing and Washington.
Musk was among the first businesspeople from the US to visit China after the pandemic and invested heavily in the country during its economic downturn. However, he has also expressed concern about China's industrial capacity surpassing that of the US.
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Trump has repeatedly cited countering China as a main driver for several foreign policy moves since he returned to the White House in January. However, observers also note that the Trump administration's China policy is still taking shape.
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