(Deutsche Welle Chinese website) "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" wrote that during Xi Jinping's visit to the United States, Trump showed great respect for the authoritarian ruler and firmly believed that he had established a deep personal friendship with Xi Jinping. Beijing, on the other hand, believes that Trump's presence in the White House is a rare opportunity for China's rise. The commentary titled "Xi Jinping plays Trump into the palm of his hand" reads:
"With the midterm elections to be held in a few weeks, the situation does not seem to be favorable to the Republican Party. At this critical moment, Trump obviously does not want to escalate the trade war again. For Xi Jinping, although China's export data is very strong, the overall economic situation is not optimistic. In addition, the Fifth Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China to be held this October will set the tone for next year's Party Congress. Xi Jinping's top priority is to be re-elected by then.
In this context, Xi Jinping accepted all kinds of flattery from Trump, but did not make any substantive return. The Chinese leader preferred to let Trump continue to believe that a personal friendship had developed between the two of them. After Trump initiated the tariff war, Xi Jinping implemented anti-tariffs and export controls, which have obviously completely tamed Trump.
But none of this has changed the essence of the struggle between China and the United States: the United States has banned the import of Chinese-made drones and robots, and has threatened to impose more sanctions if China continues to purchase Iranian oil. China has not fully fulfilled its commitment to export rare earths in November last year and continues to provide satellite data and military supplies to Iran. The distrust between China and the United States was also reflected in Washington this time: the United States extended the trade ceasefire for only two months. In other words, it is only postponed until after the U.S. midterm elections. After the midterm elections, Trump may become a lame duck president, and his ability to control China policy may be greatly reduced. On the other hand, this is also to put pressure on Xi Jinping and force him to visit the United States again in December to attend the G20 summit. "
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung commented that Xi Jinping was clearly the winner of this Washington summit because Trump did not mention a word about the threat posed by Beijing to Japan and Taiwan. This will undoubtedly weaken the trust of Asian allies in the United States, which is exactly what Xi Jinping wants:
"In view of this, the current stalemate has not brought real relief to Sino-US relations. Instead, it has bought Beijing more time to strengthen its dominance from supply chains to military fields. Chinese and American leaders seem to have neither the will nor the ability to take constructive steps. The suspicion between the two power centers is too deep, and Xi Jinping firmly believes in the correctness of his political decisions. Now The question is just how China and the United States will respond to the conflict to avoid triggering a military escalation. For Europe, this means: should we engage in a trade war? It is no longer a question. The key now is how we should respond and how to reduce the losses. In the face of the current world and such world leaders, we have no choice.
“Trump seems to be envious of authoritarian rulers”
The Business Daily commented that Xi Jinping stayed in Washington for 44 hours, but the political talks arranged by Trump lasted only two hours:
"The US president is clearly unwilling to spend time thinking about the complex details of relations with China. He does this for two reasons. First, he seems to be envious of authoritarian rulers. Previously, Trump had welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska with the highest courtesy, and now he has extended an invitation to Putin to the G20 Summit in Miami.
Trump is clearly impressed by the ability of authoritarian rulers like Putin and Xi to control their populations. The unfettered power of authoritarian rulers is precisely due to the lack of democratic supervision. Another reason for Trump’s high-profile welcome to Xi Jinping’s visit is that Trump seems to believe that the United States is currently at a disadvantage in the competition with China. He knows very well that once China halts rare earth exports, the United States will suffer a huge impact. Therefore, he does not want the U.S.-China trade war to escalate again before the midterm elections.
Trump’s war with Iran has already decimated U.S. arms inventories. In addition, the United States has to mobilize a large number of troops to launch another attack on Iran at any time. Therefore, there is a vacancy in the number of troops stationed in the Indo-Pacific region. But Trump has obviously ignored one point: China's economy is now very weak, and China's military strength still lags far behind that of the United States. Under this situation, military cooperation with allies should be strengthened, but Trump would rather choose to insult and belittle allies.
Polls show that the American people have seen Trump's weakness in foreign policy. What Trump does will not only endanger his own re-election prospects, but also endanger the security of the United States and even the entire democratic world. For Trump, human rights and press freedom are not worth mentioning at all. At the same time, he is weakening international institutions such as the United Nations and the International Criminal Court. "
