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US foreign policy may slightly change ahead of presidential election — Chinese expert

According to Xin Qiang, if Harris receives the Democratic presidential nomination and Trump starts putting pressure on her, particularly on issues such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, then Biden will have to make some policy changes so that Harris does not lose voter support

SHANGHAI, July 24. /TASS/. US foreign policy is unlikely to change much until the end of the year but incumbent President Joe Biden may slightly modify it to support Vice President Kamala Harris’s election campaign, Xin Qiang, deputy director of the Center for American Studies (CAS) at Fudan University, told TASS.

"I don’t think that it (Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race - TASS) will be of much influence but it will definitely have some impact [on US foreign policy]. The reason is that if Harris has some political differences with Biden, then, Biden will probably treat her not as a vice president with her own political views but as a [presidential] candidate with her own views. It means that Biden could make compromises on some issues in order to support Harris’s policies," the expert noted.

According to him, if Harris receives the Democratic presidential nomination and Republican candidate Donald Trump starts putting pressure on her, particularly on issues such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, then Biden will have to make some policy changes so that Harris does not lose voter support. "Some tactical changes may be made in certain policy areas," the analyst said, adding that still, it was the incumbent president that determined the country’s foreign policy.

"I don’t expect any serious changes in US foreign policy to take place in the coming months under Biden," Xin concluded.

On July 21, Biden announced the end of his re-election campaign and endorsed Harris as Democratic presidential nominee. However, Biden said he planned to remain in his role as US president until his term ended on January 20, 2025.