Trade, N Korea pose challenges as Trump prepares to meet China’s Xi
BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping has spent the past four years putting brash, wealthy politicians and businessmen in jail. On Thursday he will have to sit down and negotiate with one.
The first face-to-face meeting between Xi and Donald Trump at the US president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida will be a key test of whether the two leaders can overcome their vast differences and develop a personal bond. The gathering is a gamble for the highly scripted Xi, who risks an unravelling of his carefully constructed image in the face of Trump’s notorious unpr e d ic t -ability as they di s -cuss contentious issues ranging from North Korea to trade.
The 63-year-old, who took power in 2012 and was granted the vaunted title of Communist Party “core” in October, is widely considered China’s most powerful leader in a generation. Known best for leading an anti-corruption campaign that has taken down some of the party’s most eminent officials, Xi’s unyielding approach to governance has invited comparisons to Mao Zedong — and pointed to possible collisions with Trump.
Their contrasting styles — reserved versus blunt, rehearsed versus spontaneous, controlled versus turbulent — could see the pair clash, Hu Xingdou, a Chinese economics professor and expert on corruption, told AFP. Both men have strong characters, Hu said. Xi is likely to be more “stable” while political novice Trump could prove to be “reckless” on issues such as China’s trade surplus with the US — a constant source of irritation in Washington and an issue that Trump tweeted will make the talks “difficult”.
Chinese politics expert Cheng Li highlighted their underreported similarities — bold nationalism paired with a tendency to sideline bureaucracy and prioritise domestic affairs.
Where Trump has said he will “make America great again”, Xi has called for the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation”, Cheng said in a blog post for the Brookings Institute. That summit coincided with news of a North Korean missile launch, compelling Abe and Trump to set up an impromptu situation room in plain view of gawking onlookers — a scenario Xi would want to avoid.
“If there are embarrassing moments (during the summit) and both sides actually have a big quarrel over North Korea, that is a risk for Xi because he cannot afford to lose face while China aspires to be the new centre of gravity for the world order,” Lam said. As the leader who headed a drive to stop Communist Party members from playing a game condemned by Mao as “a sport for millionaires,” Xi will also be skipping the resort’s signature offering.
“I think it’s safe to say there’s not going to be any golf,” the White House official told reporters Wednesday.
The first face-to-face meeting between Xi and Donald Trump at the US president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida will be a key test of whether the two leaders can overcome their vast differences and develop a personal bond. The gathering is a gamble for the highly scripted Xi, who risks an unravelling of his carefully constructed image in the face of Trump’s notorious unpr e d ic t -ability as they di s -cuss contentious issues ranging from North Korea to trade.
The 63-year-old, who took power in 2012 and was granted the vaunted title of Communist Party “core” in October, is widely considered China’s most powerful leader in a generation. Known best for leading an anti-corruption campaign that has taken down some of the party’s most eminent officials, Xi’s unyielding approach to governance has invited comparisons to Mao Zedong — and pointed to possible collisions with Trump.
Their contrasting styles — reserved versus blunt, rehearsed versus spontaneous, controlled versus turbulent — could see the pair clash, Hu Xingdou, a Chinese economics professor and expert on corruption, told AFP. Both men have strong characters, Hu said. Xi is likely to be more “stable” while political novice Trump could prove to be “reckless” on issues such as China’s trade surplus with the US — a constant source of irritation in Washington and an issue that Trump tweeted will make the talks “difficult”.
Chinese politics expert Cheng Li highlighted their underreported similarities — bold nationalism paired with a tendency to sideline bureaucracy and prioritise domestic affairs.
Where Trump has said he will “make America great again”, Xi has called for the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation”, Cheng said in a blog post for the Brookings Institute. That summit coincided with news of a North Korean missile launch, compelling Abe and Trump to set up an impromptu situation room in plain view of gawking onlookers — a scenario Xi would want to avoid.
“If there are embarrassing moments (during the summit) and both sides actually have a big quarrel over North Korea, that is a risk for Xi because he cannot afford to lose face while China aspires to be the new centre of gravity for the world order,” Lam said. As the leader who headed a drive to stop Communist Party members from playing a game condemned by Mao as “a sport for millionaires,” Xi will also be skipping the resort’s signature offering.
“I think it’s safe to say there’s not going to be any golf,” the White House official told reporters Wednesday.
