How Xi Likely Interpreted Trump After the Washington Summit

The useful part

Please review the following troubleshooting tips or contact us at [email protected]. Close Skip to navigation Skip to search Skip to main content Skip to footer Argument An expert's point of view on a current event. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are shown in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on Sept.

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• An admittedly more conjectural thought is that Xi may have found it highly amusing to watch Trump perform his interpretation of what authoritarian leadership consists of.
• How else to interpret his lavish use of gold and his craze for monuments, especially ones that he hopes will bear his name down through the ages?
• By way of comparison, examine how each man has operated atop his very different system.
• Xi (left) and Trump (right) are shown up close, with Xi looking at Trump.
• Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images Get audio access with any FP subscription.

What to take from it

That is because he, like leaders of most nations with a well-developed sense of statecraft, understands that among his first duties while overseas is to promote a unified image of his country and its system. Trump seems to believe that pro-government media coverage is a matter of banning news outlets whose criticism offends him. This post is part of FP's ongoing coverage of the Trump administration.

Example or evidence

• President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, is something we are unlikely to learn soon, if ever.
• This has nothing to do with the failure of the delegations to release a joint statement, or even the large discrepancies between each side's readout of their meetings.
• Who, deep down, is Trump, and what does his presidency say about the state of the United States as the world's incumbent superpower?
• One of the most important outcomes of the recent summit in Washington between U.S.

Details worth keeping

China's president has likely concluded that the U.S. A column like this is necessarily speculative, so I am going to venture my best guesses. Trump's extraordinary unctuousness in giving Xi the red-carpet treatment and flattering him at every turn stands no chance of turning the two men into genuine friends, as Trump often seems to believe.

Related coverage

• Thediplomat: To some, Trump's hospitality was "historic." To others, it was an attempt to "lull China into a false sense of security."
• Politicalwire: "President Donald Trump said he is not worried that Chinese President Xi Jinping will cancel a highly anticipated visit later this month," Bloomberg reports.
• Ft: Chinese leader's most urgent goal is extending trade truce with US, but he is also expected to discuss Taiwan, Iran and AI