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Chinese leader Xi Jinping extracted historic symbolic and strategic concessions from Donald Trump during a three-day Washington summit, alarming US allies and analysts who see American interests in the Asia Pacific being undermined.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping won historic concessions from Donald Trump during three days of summitry in Washington, alarming US allies and analysts who warn that American interests in the Asia Pacific are being undermined.
Xi Jinping Wins Trump Concessions
Xi gave up nothing beyond a pair of pandas and the fact of the visit itself. He still has not delivered fully the trade measures he promised at his last meeting with Trump in May, or the one before that, or even during Trump's first term. Much commentary described the summit as all symbolism and no substance.
In reality, it was a triumph for the Chinese Communist Party and its leader in both symbolism and substance, according to analysts and former officials. Trump left more than 100 nation leaders at the UN in New York to host Xi about 350 kilometres away in Washington, a striking gesture that former US deputy secretary of state Kurt Campbell called deeply troubling.
Campbell said the summits underscore China's and Xi's dramatic arrival on the international stage in a way that highlights China's growing influence and America's growing alienation in the world. Trump went to Andrews Air Base to welcome Xi at the foot of the aircraft stairs, an honour customarily assigned to a protocol officer.
Trump Welcomes Xi With Unprecedented Honour
The last US president to do this was Barack Obama welcoming the Pope in 2015; before that it was John F. Kennedy welcoming Britain's Harold McMillan in 1962. Randy Schriver, a Republican appointed by Trump as assistant defence secretary in his first term, said the US should have gotten something for that honour and he is not sure it did. Schriver now chairs the congressionally mandated US-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
Schriver noted that while Trump has political difficulties stemming from his war on Iran, Xi is not without his own difficulties, primarily economic. In other words, there was no need to fawn over him. It got worse. Trump repeatedly lavished Xi with praise, calling him strong, vibrant and fit, and personally took him to inspect a presidential helicopter and the new White House landing pad made of granite.
Trump told reporters that Xi likes granite and is an expert on stone, among many other things. Xi maintained his customary smirk of amused indifference while saying nothing. Commentators noted his relaxed demeanour throughout the visit. Trump also parroted Chinese Communist Party propaganda.
Trump Repeats False Propaganda Claims
He told reporters that the US Declaration of Independence goes back 250 years while theirs goes 6000 years. The US republic is indeed 250 years old, but the People's Republic of China is a mere 76 years old. The CCP spruiks 6000 years of Chinese culture to create an impression of permanence and legitimacy for its modern dictatorship. The corresponding age for a US president would be to lay claim to the history of Western civilisation.
Campbell pointed to another example: both presidents claimed the US and China were united as allies against Japan in World War II. But the US actually allied with the Republic of China, ruled by the nationalist Kuomintang, which the Communist insurgency drove out of mainland China in 1949.
Chen Fang-yu of Taipei's Soochow University told a weekend conference that Taiwan faces the Chinese communists' enormous propaganda resources and their continuous attempts to brainwash the US public, with help from Donald Trump. Campbell said Xi is seeking to imprint on Trump his views and China's perspective on Asia and the world. Xi wants to undermine confidence in Taiwan and drive a wedge between Japan and the US.
Xi Imprints Views On Trump
Xi's successful imprinting of his view on Trump is a priceless propaganda victory. Xi's greatest ambition is to absorb Taiwan during his term, making Trump's concessions on Taiwan perhaps his greatest gift to Xi. Campbell said Americans reassure themselves that Trump does not say he is changing policy on Taiwan, but everything else around it is changing in troubling ways. He gave three examples.
One is Trump's approach of no significant unofficial engagement with Taipei. Another is a sustained interruption in arms sales. Astonishingly, Trump offered to sell US weapons to Xi, according to Campbell. The third is Trump's public utterances which align closely with Chinese views.
An American betrayal of Taiwan in the event of a Xi Jinping takeover attempt would be a profound historical blow to all US allies and to freedom of navigation for world commerce. Nobukatsu Kanehara, a Japanese former diplomat and security adviser to the late prime minister Shinzo Abe, said that in a crisis over Taiwan the South China Sea and East China Sea would be blocked.
He told the US Studies Centre conference in Sydney this week that the huge consequences must be understood, including allowing Beijing to establish itself as the hegemon over the maritime arteries that carry global trade. Trump also claimed that Xi agreed with his proposal to rename artificial intelligence as superintelligence. Trump posted that Xi seemed to like calling the poorly and inaccurately named Artificial Intelligence by a far more accurate and important name, SUPER INTELLIGENCE.
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theage:This story was compiled and edited by the HeadTopics newsroom and HT AI from the reports above.
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