US President Joe Biden attends an event to honor national teacher of the year at the White House in Washington, DC on April 24, 2023. Biden on Tuesday announced his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election campaign, increasing the likelihood of a Biden-Trump rematch. Photo: IC

US President Joe Biden announced his campaign for 2024 re-election on Tuesday, an event which could bring a repeat of the 2020 presidential race when he squared off against former president Donald Trump. 

A possible sequel to the Biden-Trump competition, when both have been mired in criticism and failed to fix US problems, lays bare a decaying country that is deprived of vitality, and the political rigidity will eventually lead to a decline in US influence worldwide, said experts.

But whoever wins will not restore US rationality on China policy, they said, as a game of "who is more of a China hawk" demonstrates that US presidential candidates do not compete with governance ability. 

Biden said on Tuesday he will seek a second White House term in 2024. "When I ran for president four years ago, I said we're in a battle for the soul of America, and we still are," Biden said. "This is not a time to be complacent. That's why I'm running for re-election."

"Let's finish this job. I know we can."

Four years ago, Biden announced his 2020 presidential bid on the same date. The announcement is set to make 80-year-old Biden the oldest presidential candidate in US history.

A Wall Street Journal poll last week showed that Trump leads Florida governor Ron DeSantis and the rest of the 2024 GOP field by a wide margin. This result may prepare the US for another Biden-Trump race for the 2024 presidential election. CNN on Sunday claimed that this sequel may render 2024 "the most boring presidential primary season ever."

An ossified country

The US, once a robust and lively country, has descended into an unsolvable melee which features the tussle of two old men; one is claimed by insiders as "too old to travel," and the other is mired in a morass of lawsuits and scandals, Lü Xiang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times. 

Lü said the situation signals that the speed with which US democracy is decaying is quickening, as under no circumstances should candidates with such backgrounds be chosen to compete for such an important job. 

According to a Yahoo News/YouGov poll, 38 percent of respondents felt "exhaustion" over a rematch. Other sentiments were not very positive either, with 29 percent feeling "fear" and 23 percent "sadness and fear."

When Biden took office, he made a slew of promises, from repairing ties with US allies and healing political and cultural divisions to fixing the economy. However, as his term approaches an end, fissures are running deeper in American society and its transatlantic allies are seeking "strategic autonomy" in the wake of Washington's constant attempts to sacrifice its allies to contain China. 

In February, Biden touted several ways in which the economy has improved over the last year. However, half of Americans say their finances are worse off now than a year ago, according to a recent Gallup poll. Just 35 percent say their finances are in better shape now.

The US faces severe internal and external challenges and a fresh face is needed to tackle those problems at this crucial juncture, Li Haidong, a professor at the Institute of International Relations at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times. 

"However, a possible sequel of the Biden-Trump competition shows the ossification, the stiffness of US politics. This trend indicates a rapid decline of American power globally," Li said. 

Experts pointed out that the election farce that dominated the 2020 election might be repeated during next year's election. After he announced his candidacy for the 2024 elections, Trump was indicted in Manhattan last month, making him the first former president to face criminal prosecution in US history.

Pro-Trump supporters storm the US Capitol following a rally with President Donald Trump on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC. Trump supporters gathered in the nation's capital to protest the ratification of President-elect Joe Biden's Electoral College victory over President Trump in the 2020 election. File photo: VCG

Biden's son Hunter Biden has recently been investigated of improperly using family ties in his business dealings, the BBC reported. 

"The crazy tussle between the Republican and the Democratic parties will likely escalate when election nears. The rat race will not only further divide the US, further deprive Americans of hope for a better governance, but also tell the world that compromise, the core of US democracy, is lost in its current politics," Li said.

Dangerous spiral 

Chinese observers will watch the election in a calm manner, as having dealt with a US under both parties' rule, and attach little hope that the next president can regain rationality on its China policy. 

"The US' domestic politics exerts a heavy weight on the country's China policy. Currently, its domestic politics is unstable, its international status is also wobbly, and this causes US politicians to make unreasonable, extreme decisions," Lü said.

Li predicts US politicians will up the ante on China-bashing as the election draws closer. "The election often turns into a dangerous spiral on who is tougher on China," he noted. 

Biden is expected to sign an executive order before the G7 (Group of Seven) summit on May 19 to limit investments by American businesses in China, Bloomberg reported. 

Trump said that if he wins the presidential election in 2024, he will achieve complete independence of the US from China, TASS reported. The former US president pointed out that China had too much power in the US.

To boost the economy, the US ought to reach out for cooperation with China, however, its toxic election politics is only about setting up imagined enemies and targeting the "enemy" to win votes, Li said.  

So it is safe to say that US politics is to seek interests for one political party, or certain politicians, at the cost of abandoning national interests and public welfare, said the expert. 

"In regard to China policy, presidential candidates are competing not on who is more capable of gaining benefits for the country but who is more unscrupulous," Li said.