The columnist very much overstates the case for there being any features or choices of Trump that have somehow impacted China's trajectory in any major way.

China assertively looks out for its own interests on the world stage, as it has done for decades, centuries, millennia.

China's momentum and direction would be no different with a USA under a Hillary or a Bernie over the past twelve months. That is a blink of an eye in the landscape of China's motion.

One of my favourite quotes, ever, came from Mao Zedong, paraphrased here: "Things always seem at their darkest right before everything becomes completely black."

That is an excellent quote, regardless of your political persuasion...