Economic recovery and Foreign Policy seems to be an inside the beltway issue and its likely not to figure prominently in Voter Preferences and choices in this election, results of the election, how the world evaluates the consequences of the actions. I think its pretty clear that were at a crossroads. Trump has played the role of disrupter, fundamentally altering the policies of his four postcold war predecesso predecessors. Embarking on what could only be described as a wholesale withdrawal or threat to withdraw from so many enterprises, the tpp, the paris climate, jcpoa, unesco and who. And not that disruption by definition is all the bad. Its bad if theres nothing else it replace it. If its bad if its followed by policies that dont serve the National Interest and its bad if its done for some sake tethered to political. Biden, on the other hand offers a much different approach, or we would expect he would, the return to more traditional. Whether it proves to be restoration of traditional americas role in the world or partial restoration, he wants to put the u. S. , to use his words, back at the head of the table. The problem and well talk to our distinguished panel about this, the table has changed. Covid is probably, without exaggerating, the most consequential event in the world since the Second World War and theres no going back easily to the way things were. China is probably emerging stronger economically. Putin is unchecked, north korea has more nukes. Youve got a u. S. Embassy in jerusalem. Israeli and arab states are making peace through normization and assad is in power and globalization has taken huge hits. One point fbiden is going to confront one of the most serious recoveries since Franklin Roosevelt without the benefit of what roosevelt had, a world war that left america stronger at home and more influence in the world abroad and i only raise the final issue, is it possible for the United States, given how badly and triballized and polarized we are again, concerns and america that is so many questions, the bad ayou nd ugly what are trumps accomplishments in . What about the last four years has most alienated and delighted allies and adversaries . How bad has the reputational hit been for the u. S. And who are our allies and adversaries really prefer as the next president. And finally, what are the expectations of those allies and adversaries for a Biden Administration should there be one . Fortunately, i dont have to answer these questions. We have three presenters, wellknown do you, christine amanpour. And amanpour and company on pbs. Steven for the new york times, hes spent a long career in overseas posting, including bangkok, belgium, berlin, rust sel brussels, yes, washington d. C. Christine and steve ive known for a long time and the beijing chief for the economist and author of the publications, wonderful column. So five minutes either we have a hard stop at 9 50. And there will be time for questions at the end. And well turn the virtual floor over to you. Maybe youll recognize it, but people being on how is that chaos been working out for you . It doesnt look really good from this side and adversaries and allies are clearly looking at what he is going to happen to them no matter who becomes the next president. I think we wake up today, sitting in london, we see a rise and a dramatic surge in covid cases filling our hospitals. We see in france what happened, a terrible terrorist attack that has left one woman beheaded in a church and two other people killed. People in many parts of the world because of covid, i think seeing, those in the polls, i see seeking not chaos and disruption, but confidence and competence, competence is a big word that suddenly has become, you know, necessary. And they say that covid is being mismanaged by so many countries around the world, but there are standouts where it is being managed. We hear the who chief says that this virus will not be defeated unless there is global coordination and cooperation. And thats what the world expects from the United States. We havent had it. Theres no coordinated plan to, you know, have a coalition, like they did with, whether it was ebola and before that, the financial crisis, that hasnt happened and this is what were faced with right now. And you mentioned some of the major treaties and agreements that have been disrupted and thrown out of the window and that most people in europe for sure believe were correct, whether it was the Iran Nuclear Deal or at least one set of pressures about Nuclear Breakout from iran, whether its the climate accord, which most of the rest of the world believes is a real major electoral issue and a major issue for most of the world. Whether its, you know, the nato alliance, seeming to embrace authoritarian leaders at a time when autocracy and seems to be moving further and further into the western democratic space, this is a big worry and especially in the middle east where you have much activity by President Trump, whether its moving the embassy to jerusalem, whether its out to engineer the between countries that israel, lets be honest, has not been at war with, neither the uae, either bah ran or to less extent issues with sudan. You have iran as you know, as a country that many people see needs to be dealt with in a way to contain it, but one of the recent polls that was taken about the middle east shows that an alarming 49 of people who were polled do not believe that either President Trump or biden would be good for the middle east. Of the remainder that they believed joe biden, but with what bro m had embraced. Anl only 20 believe that President Trump would be good for the middle east. Majority of those polled do not agree with moving the embassy, the biggest issue, the still unresolved major issue in that part of the world and thats the Israeli Palestinian state of accomplish. Thats a tour of resolve if you like, most people want to see an america thats perhaps destined to traditional role of leading coalitions to make the world a better place. Thank you so much. Steven, to you. After those few wonderful contributio contributions, i shall do my best. The problem uright, aaron, trump was a great disrupter, the problem is when the pieces fall down again, they never fall in the same place. The world has changed and whatever trump has done or not done, he hasnt had much effect on the rise in china which david, im sure, will talk eloquently about. He hasnt, you know, covid there was a lot of pat tronnizing of American Performance on covid by europe and now europe, infection worse than the United States. And no democratic government will come out of this unharmed or unblamed, even though what theyve all tried to do is balance Economic Growth versus health. Its not easy and i dont think anyone has done terribly well in a liberal democratic society, except perhaps japan. Maybe, maybe south korea. But europeans look at trump as a kind of nightmare, i have to say. I mean, Central Europeans polled very much appreciate that the despite complaining about nato, trump was the president that put more american troops and military effort into europe, into nato, particularly along the russian border to enhance the turrets. So theyre quite fond of trump, in support of authoritarian, poland and hungary is a separate case, but in terms of what hes actually done as opposed to what hes said, hes actually been good for natos deterrents. But i think he has seen europe as a competitor as a rival. He believes the European Union somehow was set up to confront the United States not to be an ally and he has supported, you know, brexit, which is essentially a breaking up of the European Union. He has always asked that heads of france and germany, when are you leaving the European Union. I think he actually stopped asking that question. But it is his unpredictability, his basic distaste for what europe does for its trade and economic power that has people very, very anxious. And at the same time, you know, a Biden Victory would feel like a return to civilization, but despite the warm words that will ensue and the happy summit meetings because after all biden is a kind of romantic transatlanticist, one that we havent really had for decades, i think, despite all that, there is this anxiety that american politics has become so polarized that Foreign Policy has become polarized and american Foreign Policy has lost consistency and biden who will be 78 if he becomes president would probably only be a one term president and a republican might very easily win again, who shares some of the same views as President Trump. So there will be contingencies constantly and a kind of wariness and the last point i would make, people are worried about biden asking a lot of them on china which makes them nervous and also, he would be a kind of end to european efforts at strategic autonomy and a Stronger Security and Foreign Policy in europe because it would be like putting ones head back in back into the comfortable sand. And ill leave it there. You know the point you raised steve, whether trump is a headline or a trendline is a fascinating one. At least from the european perspective that you could easily end up with maybe a moderated version of donald trump. And a more coherent one. And a more tactical one. Right. David, over to you. Well, im talking to you from beijing where ive been the last two half years, and in the context immediately before that i was six years in washington as bureau chief and before that in europe covering the European Union. And so before i got to china id like to sort of look why i think this election, even if joe biden wins isnt going to be like that elation that we saw in europe in 2008 when barack obama was elected. You know, barack obama for the west, for europe, certainly, even here in asia, even a bit in china, represented a reset. And a reset from what . It was the idea that under george w. Bush america had used its tremendous strength clumsily and without consulting, without listening, without empathy as it tried to impose simple American Solutions on complex places and had broken those places, whether it was iraq or afghanistan, and so obama offered what i think we may have lost david. Oh. Can you hear me . We can. Continue please. So, obama offered a reset because he was a global citizen, he was empathetic, he was going to consult. Why is this election not going to be the same . Because the problem with this america, the donald trump america, is not that its a strong country imposing Simple Solutions like democracy and breaking places. The problem with the world with donald trump, he seems to have revealed way too much america, itself, domestically is a broken country. Thats the lesson that people here in china draw from americas performance with covid. Is that america is that individualism that they know about america, is actually a self selfishness that takes america to the point they refuse to wear face masks and even if joe biden is an elected prison for europeans, i think aaron is right, to call their bluff and youve complained about the lack of coalitions and multilateral and to confront china, well, great, lets do some stuff to confront china. There will be a sense of accountability in europe that donald trump has paid at least part of the price for his mismanagement and of covid and Everything Else that europeans hate so much. Steven is it right, but the rest of the world cant help, but think that maybe in four years time, the americans who never lost faith with donald trump the kind of disbelief as much of the rest of the world, that they wouldnt have gone away that this is still a tremendously divided america, almost kind of 5050 and they cant be wished away. Its not just donald trump its what he represents, its trumps america and trumps americans and then finally, how is this viewed in china . Clearly the Chinese Communist party is not interested in telling a story about accountability at the ballot box to its own people, so the propaganda here is all about chaos and money and corruption, and the fact that the voting that democracy is basically kind of cynical lie, that its a game in which the powerful and rich just ignore the real interests of the ordinary people and see their own selfish interests. The lesson from the Propaganda Machine says it doesnt matter who wins its the same oligarchy and the individualism and individual rates and claims of elective legitimacy that america use toss criticize places like china, that covid is not just a Public Health disaster, its a failure for democracy and as china tells us, its success for one party system that its performance legitimacy which gives you a mandate. The ability to keep your people safe, to mobilize and to organize. Now, we can talk about covid in china, but thats true, because to add to stevens list of liberal democracies that handled covid brilliant i would name the fantastic island of taiwan. 23 Million People and fewer than 10 deaths from covid and liberal democracy, theyve handled it fantastically. Theres nothing good about the communist party of landling covid, but americas handling of covid, no matter who wins on tuesday, there will not be a kind of barack obama style reset. There will be a lot of lingering unhappiness and questions about not just trump, but trumps america and what is that. Fascinating. The folks who study why certain authoritarian qualities and democratic qualities did better than others in covid argue that there are two or three factors. One is that respect for capacity and competence, the second is faith in government, the willingness to actually your point about individualism in america and our antiauthority past, and our refusal to accept comprehensive solutions to problems, its no wonder we dont have a sensible gun control policy here or health care. That is critically important, i think, in the way that other countries are going to look at the United States and the broken house metaphor i think is critically important. We are going to come back to this, david, on the issue of whether or not beijing is conflicted on who they really want as the next president. But let me ask a few questions. Steve, this one is for you, you referred to the fact that one of the more positive aspects of trumps years, at least among certain Central European states has been bolstering natos deterrents. Weve talked a lot here even in the brief 20 minutes weve been discussing about what the bad and the ugly is with respect to trumps policies. So let me ask the question on the cusp of this election. Other than deterrents with respect to nato, some would criticize the way hes gone about that as well, are there any redemptive aspects over the course of the last four years . Steve, well start with you, but i also want to ask david and christiane. One has to try to be cold about all of this and i think trump has drawn attention to chinas manipulation of trading regime, and misuse of the wto, and the Security Threat chinese scientific progress and Artificial Intelligence and technology and huawei presents to the western world, and this is something obama wasnt really very interested in, i have to say. And trump overstates things, as he does forever, but the fact is, he has gotten britain to pull out of huawei and germany and he has woken up europe, which now says in a policy paper it sees china as a systemic rival, which is stronger language than before. The german bbi and the sort of, you know, business groups in germany have a stronger voice in warning against china trade. They had to listen. So, i think on china, also, theres been a kind of wakeup call that trump has trumpeted maybe much too strongly and frankly pompeos offer borel, the Foreign Policy chief of an euu. S. Dialog on china i think is a very good thing. I think it might work better under a Biden Administration, but in principle its the way one should respond. So i think that is something and then, also, it failed, god knows, if you look obama left us worried to hell about north korea. Whatevers happened there, yes, theyre still building up stuff, but there hasnt been the war that obama was really worried about. Iran, i think, is a big problem. There are lots of things he hasnt done well, but youre asking me to look on the bright side of life. Right, i mean, and i didnt ask the question to suggest that theres a symmetrical handling of some of the policy seen. Ak, christiane to you. Look, i tend not to be cold as an analyst and as an observer and a reporter. I believe in values, i believe that the United States is unique amongst all the countries of the world, that its Foreign Policy is based on values. Values that are commonly shared amongst those who believe in human rights. Those who believe in coalitions and alliances and i remember distinctly when President Trump won to the shock of everybody in the United States and in the rest of the world, all the rest of the world, all the leaders did the traditional, you know, the telegrams and whatever the messages congratulating the people of the United States and new president of the United States. The only person who stood up for val