Trump-style diplomacy could win friends for China but harm US ties with Beijing

Last week, US ambassador to Poland Tom Rose cut off contact with his host country’s parliamentary speaker over what he described as “outrageous and unprovoked insults” against President Donald Trump.Washington would “not permit anyone to harm US-Polish relations nor disrespect” the president, Rose warned, without specifying the insults.However, lower house speaker Wlodzimierz Czarzasty, a left-wing Polish politician, had earlier criticised Trump’s policies and said he would not support an initiative to nominate the US leader for the Nobel Peace Prize.While Rose later told Polish media that Washington was Warsaw’s “biggest ally and greatest friend”, his sharp response has reinforced global perceptions that the US is moving away from traditional diplomatic norms, according to observers.This more assertive brand of American foreign policy could push Washington’s allies to look to other partners, including Beijing, and risked damaging the US-China relationship, they warned.Poland’s parliamentary speaker Wlodzimierz Czarzasty. Photo: AFPSun Chenghao, a fellow at Tsinghua University’s Centre for International Security and Strategy, said the incident showed the second Trump administration’s diplomatic approach was skewed towards a “more high-handed and assertive style”.