After the first day of meetings between U.S. President Donald Trump and China¡¯s supreme leader, Xi Jinping, a supporter of the U.S. president was ecstatic, exulting on X that Xi had ¡°stunned the room¡± with his declaration that the two countries ¡°should be partners, not rivals.¡± In her reading, the call for partnership was a sign of the newfound respect the Chinese leadership has for the U.S. under Trump.
It¡¯s easy to make fun of the naivete behind that view, but it¡¯s probably more widespread than you think. That gap between public understanding of what China is doing and why and the reality of Beijing¡¯s policy speaks to a broader failure that deserves more attention.
The Trump supporter professed to be ¡°in tears¡± after Xi¡¯s kumbaya statement. After years of being told that the U.S. was being laughed at, the image of its chief rival extending the hand of partnership does suggest a rejuvenation of the nation¡¯s fortunes. Why reach out to a country that is a laughingstock, which is what Trump called the U.S. ¡ª but only when he wasn¡¯t president? (Trump doubled down on that take in an interview on Fox News after the summit, saying that ¡°Xi said America is a nation in decline. And I said, ¡®you¡¯re right.¡¯¡±)
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