Restless Tiger, Smiling Dragon
From November 8 to 10, American President Trump was on an official visit to Beijing, which the head of the PRC State Council, Xi Jinping, politely and diplomatically called “historic.” It would be more correct to call it “not quite ordinary.” Experts say that over the past 25 years, American presidents have not stayed so long in the Middle Kingdom. In addition, Trump's behavior with exorbitant praise for China and its leader suggested that the United States urgently needs Beijing's help.
The obvious difference in the status of the leaders added spice to the visit. If Trump’s problems with the elites, who systematically undermine the institution of the presidency and his personal authority, are well known, then the head of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, Xi, gained additional political weight shortly before the visit of the US President.
The recent congress of the CPC expressed such strong support for its leader that Xi became the second figure in the hierarchy of the PRC leadership after Mao, surpassing the “father of Chinese reforms” Deng Xiaoping. A significant event was the departure of five members of the Standing Committee of the CPC Politburo, headed by Hu Jintao, who was considered a consistent “Westernizer,” with their replacement by new party members committed to closer ties with the “northern neighbor.”
No less interesting is the difference in the strategies of the leaders of the two countries. While China, under Xi's leadership, strives to pave the way, build bridges and achieve leadership, Trump is entirely fixated on America and its problems.
No one has forgotten how, during the presidential race, Trump promised to get tough with the main trading partner of the United States, and the trail of these promises followed him until his visit to Beijing. In fact, it turned out that instead of putting pressure on the Chinese leadership, the American president chose a completely different policy, trying to achieve his goal with colorful speeches and courteous manners.
As the Financial Times writes, “When Donald Trump on Thursday described Xi Jinping as an “exceptional man” at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, the scene was a far cry from the one seen on the campaign trail in Indiana. Then he said that the United States “cannot continue to allow China to rape” the country. The American president made claims regarding trade, mentioning, among other things, large imbalances between the two states in this area. But his rhetoric was markedly indifferent for a man who so often denounced China's policies during the presidential campaign."
The main result of the American president’s visit to Beijing was the conclusion of 28 contracts totaling $253 billion. Boeing alone will sell China airliners for a record amount of $37 billion. In addition to Boeing, Qualcomm and Westinghouse Electric, as well as a number of automobile companies and traders, have signed lucrative contracts shale and liquefied natural gas.
In any case, Trump fulfilled some of his promises, leveling the trade imbalance with China. It is unknown, however, what proportion of contracts are mandatory and what proportion are ordinary declarations of intent.
Despite the seemingly weighty package of signed agreements, US business circles do not hide some disappointment. In particular, such unresolved and painful issues for them as Chinese steel and aluminum dumping, copyright problems, competition with European companies in the Chinese market and the North Korean missile threat that worries the West and its allies in the Asia-Pacific region were left out.
This is not to say that Trump did not touch upon the topic of North Korea at all. Touched. But it looked as if America was unable to influence the North Korean “enfant-terrible” Eun and was asking its respected Chinese partners to take care and take away the matches from the unpredictable boy next door. By the way, Trump also asked Russia to keep an eye on its North Korean neighbor.
The Chinese side diplomatically responded that it itself was concerned about this topic and promised to monitor the situation.
Simply put, as long as North Korea is under the pressure of unfair political and economic sanctions imposed by the United States and its allies in anger over military defeat in the Korean War, Eun will be allowed to continue strengthening the country's defense, because the threat of North Korea's destruction still remains. But the guy will be pulled back from time to time if his missile trolling of America causes trouble to his “senior comrades.”
Some Russian analysts believe that official Beijing was so happy about dear Trump’s visit that a crack has passed through Russian-Chinese relations. And completely in vain.
The high-level reception and admission of the US President to the inner chambers of the Chinese emperors, coupled with the kind smile of Chairman Xi, should not mislead anyone - this is part of the diplomatic ritual and the usual tribute to politeness. After all, Trump is the president of a great power, and not some lackey and thief Poroshenko.
China is pursuing its own interests - namely the United States, not Russia, its main trading partner, but at the same time the United States and a strategic adversary.
American presidents (and Trump is no exception among them) never tire of repeating the mantra “China is our sworn enemy” for domestic consumption, and then, as if nothing had happened at international summits, clapping “great guy” Xi on the shoulder and swearing eternal friendship. Only the naive can hope that Beijing does not notice this duplicity of those in power in the United States.
It is good for business to maintain good relations, but the PRC and the USA have no other points of contact. The parties have been preparing for Trump’s return visit and a thick package of contracts since April, immediately after Xi paid an official visit to the United States, and a warming of relations began. However, it was outlined - does not mean it happened. True to itself, the United States has played a big game on its Chinese partners. Washington remembered that 20 years ago, China thoroughly washed the collective West by regaining Hong Kong, which almost no one in the world believed in.
In the United States, they decided to celebrate the anniversary in a unique way by imposing sanctions on two major Chinese financiers and the Bank of Dandong, accusing them of collaborating with North Korea. The US Treasury Secretary openly called the bank “an organization for laundering North Korean money.”
But the matter did not stop there. The Trump administration decided to fulfill Obama's farewell order and stepped on China's pet peeve by supplying $1,4 billion worth of weapons to Taiwan, thereby causing extreme displeasure in official Beijing.
And the final spit in the Chinese pan was Trump’s speech, accusing Chinese firms of stealing American intellectual property. This happened in the midst of the Korean missile crisis, and therefore the reaction of the PRC authorities to the furious calls of the US leadership “show this North Korean guy in his place, or we won’t vouch for ourselves” was quite cool.
The US leadership had time to adjust its policy towards China before the American president’s trip to Beijing, but for some reason no one bothered with this, leaving things to chance and trusting Trump’s impromptu statements.
In addition, the missile defense systems that the United States plans to deploy in South Korea, as well as the very aggressive US reaction to the Chinese presence in the disputed Spratly archipelago in the South China Sea, remain a strong irritant for China. During Trump's visit, questions on these two issues were not even raised.
So a number of authoritative Western publications note that in the presence of the smiling Chinese dragon Xi, the impulsive and unpredictable Trump has turned into a paper tiger.
Europe, Japan and South Korea are happy that the United States and China managed to correct the trade imbalance and conclude contracts for an impressive amount, but they all come to the conclusion that Trump did not live up to the main collective aspirations, having only pleased American and Chinese businesses.
The bottom line is. With his visit to China, Trump once again proved that in the food chain he occupies a rightful place among the top sharks of big business, but as a politician, alas. However, it was not for nothing that it was said above about the differences in the status of the Chinese and American leaders. The vengeful neocons and libertarians have so tightly surrounded their leader with red flags that he is left with a niche from which to show business acumen.
Separately, we can congratulate all the American elites who love to impose their degenerative sanctions against national interests. Keep it up!
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