(Deutsche Welle Chinese website) "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" commented on the Trump-Xi meeting in Washington. President Trump likes to use humiliation and threats to treat traditional allies of the United States. However, for the visit of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, the US president deliberately showed great respect and called the Communist leader "great leader" and "friend". But apart from that, China and the United States have not reached a substantive political agreement. The commentary titled "Xi Jinping is just acting on occasion" reads:
"There are many reasons why Trump wants to avoid a head-on conflict with China: First, the US president likes to view international politics from his narcissistic perspective, and especially likes the flattery and flattery of outsiders. Trump believes that his personal friendships with leaders of major countries are enough to influence world politics. Xi Jinping and Putin secretly laugh at this. After all, Xi Jinping and Putin are both aware of their respective strategic interests. They are just 'playing' with Trump in an attempt to control the former leader of the Western camp.
Secondly, as soon as Trump started his second term as president, he encountered Xi Jinping’s power. As a staunch trade protectionist, Trump launched a trade war against China under the instigation of China hawks in his cabinet. But Chinese leader Xi Jinping was already prepared for this and immediately halted rare earth exports to the United States. Trump was quickly defeated, and all previously announced tariffs were basically withdrawn. Xi Jinping made Trump realize that the power of the US president also has limits. This time the two sides also made arrangements in Washington to extend the truce. "
"Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" commented that Beijing has used rare earths and other bargaining chips to force the United States to take the initiative to back down in the trade war, and the Iran war has left the United States with no time to worry about anything else. Therefore, Trump has become more and more "cautious in words and deeds" on issues with China. This is particularly prominent on the Taiwan issue:
"In fact, the Trump administration is trying its best to avoid talking about the Taiwan issue and has postponed a decision on a $14 billion arms sale to Taiwan. Obviously, President Trump does take Xi Jinping's warning on the Taiwan issue very seriously. Xi Jinping has said that any mistakes in Taiwan-related issues All actions will have dangerous consequences. Previously, Trump even called this arms sale to Taiwan, which is aimed at strengthening Taiwan’s air defense capabilities, a bargaining chip in negotiations with Beijing. This statement will surely cause great concern in Taipei. After all, this is tantamount to giving Xi Jinping a say in the issue of arms sales to Taiwan.
Security experts generally express doubts about whether Trump will help Taiwan once it encounters danger. Because Trump’s definition of U.S. interests is different from the past. Alliance relations are originally the special advantage of the United States as a superpower, but Trump obviously disdains this.
Of course, Trump does not underestimate Xi Jinping’s ambitions. This is also fully reflected in discussions about artificial intelligence. Trump refused to regulate artificial intelligence research and development, and did not hide his motivations for doing so: 'Whoever wins artificial intelligence wins everything. ’ The U.S. president is unwilling to give up the leading position achieved by U.S. high-tech companies in this field and is well aware that China is quickly catching up. And this is also a sign of distrust: Trump does not believe that China will slow down the research and development of artificial intelligence out of ethical considerations. Artificial intelligence has become a new battlefield in the game between China and the United States. The conflict between China and the United States has only been postponed. "
"This is an era of two heroes"
Regarding Chinese party and state leader Xi Jinping’s trip to the United States, Neue Zürcher Zeitung commented that the competition between China and the United States over economy, technology, energy and geopolitics has not weakened, but will continue for a long time:
"No party has an absolute advantage: the United States leads in some core areas, and China excels in other areas. The undisputed dominance of the United States is a thing of the past. But this does not mean that China can replace the United States and become the new world hegemon. Rather, this is an era of dual power, and both sides are capable of defeating the other. The plan failed, but no party is strong enough to force the other party to accept the rules of the game. For this reason, it is even more important to formulate a "strategic stability" framework. Without such guardrails, the risk of conflict escalating will become higher and higher. In the next few years, Sino-US competition will have a profound impact on the world.
For now, China and the United States are still willing to engage in dialogue. When Xi Jinping flew to Washington, Trump personally went to the airport to greet him. Trump is very good at showing friendly gestures in this kind of showmanship, and Xi Jinping is willing to cooperate. This is a game between the two of them, and they are both convinced that they will be the one with the last laugh. "
