There is a big controversy surrounding the prospects of Sino-American relations and Washington's Asia-Pacific policies under Donald Trump. "Trump wants business" and he will most likely kill the TPP, Malaysian academic Mathew Maavak told Sputnik, adding that there is more to Trump's foreign policy shift than meets the eye.

Trump's win in the US presidential election has not come as a surprise for Asian intelligentsia, Mathew Maavak, a doctoral researcher in Risk Foresight at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) and regular Op-ed contributor to China's CCTV, told Sputnik, adding that the US now has a chance to be a major partner in the economic development of the Asia-Pacific.

"Actually, a good portion of the Asian intelligentsia knew Trump would win hands down if the Nov 8 balloting would be free from extreme prejudicial influences," Maavak pointed out.

"It was the Asian financial elite, however, who seemed shell-shocked by the results," he continued, "This is what happens when you are taken in by the distorted analyses of the US mainstream media and financial punditry. And let me categorically state that if Hillary Clinton had snagged the presidency, it would have been tantamount to a US declaration of war against many nations, including those in the Asia-Pacific."

"We were that close to a global disaster," he stressed.

The Malaysian academic underscored that a Trump presidency may produce a "diametrically opposite outcome."

© AP Photo / Evan Vucci President-elect Donald Trump, left, walks with his son Barron, center, and wife Melania, to speak at an election night rally, Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2016, in New York

Trump's Asia-Pacific Shift

"The US now has a chance to be a major partner in the economic development of the Asia-Pacific, minus the budget-sapping excessive militarism that has bedeviled US foreign policy for decades," Maavak stressed.

There are conflicting opinions on the prospects for US-Chinese relations after Trump's victory. Some analysts assume that Washington may tighten its pressure on China and beef up its military presence in the Asia-Pacific region.

"I think that Washington will continue its efforts meant to contain China by creating a barrier out of Southeast Asian nations, including the Philippines, Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam, with the United States controlling this process," Dmitry Mosyakov, Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences, told RIA Novosti.

Speaking to Sputnik, Russian military expert Vasily Kashin suggested that Washington under Trump is likely to adopt a Reagan-style "peace through strength" approach toward China thus making the situation in the Asia-Pacific region "much more explosive."

Russian journalist Petr Akopov of Vzglyad argues, however, that Russia won't remain neutral if Washington tries to impose further pressure on China — Moscow's strategic Eurasian partner.

On the other hand, Tom McGregor, Commentator and Editor at China Network Television (CNTV), believes that Washington would rather embrace the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) initiative and jump on the China-led One Belt, One Road bandwagon.

'Trump Wants Business, the More the Merrier'

So, how the situation will unfold?

"This is indeed a tough question to answer," Maavak responded.

"In my opinion, Washington will be inclined to participate in the AIIB and New Silk Road initiatives. Trump wants business; the more the merrier," he emphasized.

"On the other hand though, a Trump administration may adopt a more hawkish stance toward China's trade practices. It will all boil down to how well both sides haggle in the Silk Road bazaar. With a de facto military détente offered — at least on the surface — by the Trump administration, this may be China's opportunity to lose," Maavak noted.

Donald Trump has repeatedly hinted at the fact that he will abolish the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) project, championed by US President Barack Obama. Will Trump kill the TPP?

"Trump had revealed his hostility towards the TPP throughout his campaign period, citing its potentially deleterious effects on American workers. But the problem is much deeper than that. Western-style capitalism and trade regimes tend to etiolate the Middle Class," Maavak emphasized.

© AFP 2020 / Mandel Ngan People hold signs against the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) on Day 3 of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center, July 27, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

TPP and Henry Kissinger's 'Assembly of a New World Order'

The academic stressed that social stability depends on the permanent presence of a solid middle class.

"I had written a peer-reviewed journal on this subject which seemed ahead of its time then. Titled ‘Class Warfare, Anarchy and the Future Society,' it explored the ever-widening wealth gap between the Super 1% and the rest of society. Either the Super 1% ultimately relents and resets the economic cycle or it can resort to a 'Gramscian Political Society' to control dissent. The latter option seems to be the globalist wet dream," Maavak underscored.

He referred to Henry Kissinger's 2014 essay published by The Wall Street Journal back in 2014 and entitled "Henry Kissinger on the Assembly of a New World Order."

"[Kissinger] renewed the call for a New World Order echoing two variations of the future society outlined in my paper, namely the need for regionalized power centers led by strongmen who can control their respective turfs for the benefit of the transnational capitalist class," the Malaysian academic noted.

"The contemporary quest for world order will require a coherent strategy to establish a concept of order within the various regions and to relate these regional orders to one another," Kissinger wrote in his essay.

"So, the TPP looks like a stalking horse means to introduce regional gulags down the line; one that will only benefit the borderless global elite at the expense of the nation state," Maavak explained.

"That's why the likes of George Soros are getting desperate, and are throwing everything including the kitchen sink at this eruption of nationalism worldwide. The fact that nationalists worldwide are exhorting each other — instead of invoking bogeymen among themselves — is infuriating the globalist lobby," the Malaysian academic told Sputnik.

"Trump will need to kill the TPP or radically alter its foundations to uphold national sovereignty, including that of the United States," he believes.

© AP Photo / Richard Drew Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is interviewed by Neil Cavuto on his "Cavuto Coast to Coast" program, on the Fox Business Network, in New York, Friday, June 5, 2015

China's Financial Elite and The Soong Sisters Story

Why then China's financial elites in Hong Kong and Shanghai could have been "shell-shocked" by Trump's victory?

According to Maavak the antagonism between China's central government and its influential financial elites is a "recurring theme in Chinese history."

"It represents the Chinese trichotomy immortalized by this saying about the famous Soong sisters: 'One loved money, one loved power, one loved her country'," the academic remarked.

"Beijing would have also noted that Chinese tycoons in Southeast Asia have a pro-Western bias, despite overt pretensions to the contrary. This poses a quandary to Beijing. While the Communist Party of China (CPC) sees itself as the inheritor of the Chinese civilizational mantle, it is the ethnic Chinese financial elite that works against Beijing's interests, in concert with the transnational capitalist class with whom they share much commonality," Maavak suggested.

"In the end, Beijing may exercise greater central control to prevent another dynastic-type revolution," the academic concluded.

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Sputnik.