Foreign affairs

Trump in Asia: Did China Win?

In his latest op-ed in the Washington Post,  John Pomfret — the former Washington Post bureau chief in Beijing and author of the book The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom: America and China, 1776 to the Present — directly warned Chinese President Xi Jinping not to assume that he can “ dodge a crisis” in U.S.-China relations “simply by appealing to [U.S. President Donald Trump’s] vanity” during his trip to China. But Xi apparently believes the opposite: not only can he “dodge a crisis” — if there is one — he can also win the game. After all, crisis in Chinese means both danger and opportunity. At least in Beijing’s eyes, China just scored a big victory bilaterally, and even domestically and internationally.

One victory is for sure: Xi has won Trump’s heart exactly by “appealing to his vanity.”  

As The Diplomat reported, Trump received emperor-style  “state visit plus” treatment during his the-day visit in Beijing. Trump also became the first foreign leader who has dined in the Forbidden City since the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Although the Chinese government didn’t reveal any details about this private dinner, Trump himself admitted that it was “beyond” terrific.