There were two main elements to the meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平): A “diversion” and a “100-day ultimatum.” The initiative was in Trump’s hands, and Xi had to return home empty-handed.
Xi was only able to go through Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) to boast about the establishment of “four mechanisms for dialogue” between China and the US, while the Chinese media fabricated news about the Taiwan issue.
In his book titled The Hundred-Year Marathon: China’s Secret Strategy to Replace America as the Global Superpower, US China expert Michael Pillsbury listed various tactics that China had used to deceive the US over the past few decades. Creating a diversion to confuse the enemy is one of “36 tricks” that the Chinese have employed as part of the tactics Pillsbury describes.
Trump also made use of the diversion strategy during the meeting, by firing missiles at Syria, which served the dual purpose of intimidating North Korea and its Chinese masters in the Western Pacific.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that when Trump informed Xi about the missile attack in their face-to-face meeting, Xi said that he understood the necessity of the attack in response to the deaths of children.
Before that, Trump had his grandchildren sing the Chinese folk song Molihua (茉莉花, “Jasmine Flower”) to please Xi and make him lower his guard, in an attempt to coax him and China to endorse the US missile attack.
During his visit to Beijing last month, Tillerson also endorsed the “new model of great power relations” that Xi had proposed. This is the new model for US-China relations, according to which they treat each other with mutual respect and oppose each other with equal harshness.
US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross revealed another result of the Xi-Trump meeting, when he told the media that the Chinese had agreed to a “100-day plan” for trade talks that will boost US exports and reduce the US’ trade deficit with China.
Beijing kept a low profile on the issue, but this was the thing that Trump needed most from the meeting.
The “100-day plan” is more like Trump’s “100-day ultimatum” to Xi. A slowing Chinese economy has become the new normal and Beijing seems to be “drinking poison to quench its thirst” by establishing the high-profile “Xiongan New Area” (雄安新區) in Hebei Province.
The “100-day plan” is likely to have an adverse impact on the Chinese economy. If Xi fails to achieve the goals set by Trump within 100 days, people will start paying attention to the state of US-China relations.
Considering the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) habit of saying one thing but doing another, there will not be “100 days of reform.” Rather, the CCP will employ a strategy of delay to deceive the US with sweet talk and superficial achievements, while buying over politicians and business tycoons to lobby on behalf of the CCP. Will Trump be fooled by the CCP? People will learn in 100 days.
As to the four mechanisms for dialogue, dialogue between China and the US has always ended with Washington realizing that it had been tricked. It seems that Trump might ignore such dialogue in the same way that he ignored Xi’s talk by not removing his translation earpiece at the end of the meeting.
Meanwhile, the CCP is busy preparing for its 19th National Congress, which is to take place around the end of the 100-day period. It would be difficult and embarrassing for Beijing to appear weak to Washington and sacrifice its own interests to help Trump accomplish his aims. This soft spot of Xi’s is a great opportunity for the US.
The North Korean issue will be another Chinese nightmare during the period. However, if the US wants to resolve the problem by itself, it will probably wait until the deployment of its Terminal High-Altitude Air Defense system in South Korea is complete next month and there is a stable new government in South Korea.
As for Trump’s promise to visit China, such a visit is unlikely to take place before winter. Since the CCP’s 19th National Congress will be held in fall, Trump would only cause more trouble for Xi if he were to visit Beijing and talk nonsense before the event.
Paul Lin is a political commentator.
Translated by Eddy Chang
Saudi Arabian largesse is flooding Egypt’s cultural scene, but the reception is mixed. Some welcome new “cooperation” between two regional powerhouses, while others fear a hostile takeover by Riyadh. In Cairo, historically the cultural capital of the Arab world, Egyptian Minister of Culture Nevine al-Kilany recently hosted Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki al-Sheikh. The deep-pocketed al-Sheikh has emerged as a Medici-like patron for Egypt’s cultural elite, courted by Cairo’s top talent to produce a slew of forthcoming films. A new three-way agreement between al-Sheikh, Kilany and United Media Services — a multi-media conglomerate linked to state intelligence that owns much of
The US and other countries should take concrete steps to confront the threats from Beijing to avoid war, US Representative Mario Diaz-Balart said in an interview with Voice of America on March 13. The US should use “every diplomatic economic tool at our disposal to treat China as what it is... to avoid war,” Diaz-Balart said. Giving an example of what the US could do, he said that it has to be more aggressive in its military sales to Taiwan. Actions by cross-party US lawmakers in the past few years such as meeting with Taiwanese officials in Washington and Taipei, and
The Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan has no official diplomatic allies in the EU. With the exception of the Vatican, it has no official allies in Europe at all. This does not prevent the ROC — Taiwan — from having close relations with EU member states and other European countries. The exact nature of the relationship does bear revisiting, if only to clarify what is a very complicated and sensitive idea, the details of which leave considerable room for misunderstanding, misrepresentation and disagreement. Only this week, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) received members of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations
Denmark’s “one China” policy more and more resembles Beijing’s “one China” principle. At least, this is how things appear. In recent interactions with the Danish state, such as applying for residency permits, a Taiwanese’s nationality would be listed as “China.” That designation occurs for a Taiwanese student coming to Denmark or a Danish citizen arriving in Denmark with, for example, their Taiwanese partner. Details of this were published on Sunday in an article in the Danish daily Berlingske written by Alexander Sjoberg and Tobias Reinwald. The pretext for this new practice is that Denmark does not recognize Taiwan as a state under