The much-anticipated "Second Sichuan-Xi meeting" ended in what seemed like a brilliant diplomatic drama. U.S. President Trump personally went to the Air Force base to greet him. The red carpet was rolled out all the way and all kinds of super-standard receptions gave Xi Jinping a scene in front of the camera. It was obviously a glorious scene.
Interestingly, this long red carpet suddenly became a stage for Taipei's "local collaborators" to collectively sing "The Great Rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation." While they railed against the decline of U.S. national power and praised China's rise, they turned around and accused President Lai Ching-te of "refusing to sit down and talk." They even clamored for changes to the government in a knee-jerk manner. This eager performance seems not to allow Washington to monopolize the "fun".
The problem is that diplomatic exchanges always depend on "doorway". This time, Xi Jinping left with the grand intention of "rising in the east and falling in the west", eager to portray the arrogant attitude of a "first-class power". However, his several public speeches revealed the weakness of the Beijing authorities' overconfidence.
For example, Xi Jinping advocated that "without China-U.S. cooperation, many problems in the world will be difficult to solve." It seems to be elevating the situation, but in fact it is threatening the United States in the name of "constructive strategic and stable relations" and "you must cooperate with me, and the world will be stable." He repeatedly muttered the "Thucydides Trap", which is equivalent to warning the United States that if it does not accept the rules of the game set by China, Washington will be unable to bear the consequences of intensifying competition and confrontation. But the cruel fact is that among the many crises currently facing the world, from the expansion of authoritarian ambitions to the unreasonable dumping of excess production capacity, China itself is the "problem that urgently needs to be solved." This kind of wolf-like language not only makes sense, but also highlights the rude and uncivilized nature of this regime.
Let's see how Trump responds. Xi Jinping wanted to juxtapose "the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation" and "America is great again" and considered them to be equals. Trump chose to make a venomous understatement at the state banquet: He accidentally mentioned the Peloponnesian War, implying that the final winner in history was Sparta, not Athens, which boasts of a renaissance of civilization. This sentence instantly shattered Xi Jinping's illusion of "revival."
The shrewdness of the United States is also reflected in the wrestling with historical perspectives. In the itinerary, the United States deliberately mentioned the "US-China cooperation" during World War II. Anyone who knows history knows that it was the Republic of China that fought side by side with the United States and paid the price in blood and tears, and the Communist Party had no share at all. Washington openly uses this period of history as a "nostalgia" and is clearly trying to embarrass Beijing with its falsified view of history. Unless the U.S. National Archives can erase all the records of the Republic of China in it, this kind of "progress between the United States and China" is just asking for trouble for the People's Republic of China.
In terms of substantive economics and trade, Xi Jinping talks about "opening the market to the world" and asking the United States to "treat Chinese companies well", which is seriously out of touch with the global status quo. Nowadays, global industries are accelerating their withdrawal due to China's opaque game rules, wanton plunder of intellectual property rights, and state-subsidized price cutting. Xi Jinping's accusation of unequal treatment has revealed his complete disregard for the real world situation.
In front of the camera, Trump showed the tolerant atmosphere of a senior politician, but behind this atmosphere, he revealed his intelligence. Regarding Xi Jinping's cold arrows trying to use the opportunity to repair Japan and Taiwan, Trump did not even want to respond and just ignored it. After the meeting, it was concluded that the tariff reduction that Beijing most urgently wants, Washington has not given in for an inch; in high-tech and AI governance, the United States still has extreme distrust of China.
This "Second Sichuan-Xi meeting" may have unveiled the red carpet and honors, but in essence it is a carefully planned "closed door and beaten dog". Xi Jinping came with great ambitions, but in the end he did not take away even a single substantive dividend. Instead, he listened to a profound lesson on history and democracy in person. It is wrong to say that Xi Jinping is completely defeated.
