Both in China’s official media and in the world press, the summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump last week – their second so far this year – generated usual, predictable descriptions: “ambiguous,” “highly symbolic,” “historic summit,” and so on. However, a section of China’s strategic affairs community – definitely not the pro-U.S. faction – has taken exception to Trump’s “dramatic,” “personal diplomacy” hospitality in welcoming Xi. Cautioning Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership to tread carefully with the untrustworthy, capricious, and unpredictable Trump, a skeptic in China’s “leftist” media even observed, “It’s possible they’re [the U.S.] trying to lull China into a false sense of security.”
U.S. watchers in mainland China are split into two factions: pro-U.S. (qin-Mei) and anti-U.S. (fan-Mei). The qin-Mei faction among the Chinese intelligentsia, as expected, celebrated Trump personally greeting the Chinese leader at the airport, as well as the grand welcoming ceremony and the meticulously arranged state banquet at the White House.
“The U.S. side welcomed the Chinese leader with a level of courtesy rarely seen in recent years,” a qin-Mei-leaning Chinese language media outlet reported as Xi returned home.
Some scholars in China highlighted the “historic” and “diplomatic” significance that Trump served Xi the same wine that former U.S. President Richard Nixon used during his visit to China in 1972. In an interview with a popular digital e-paper published from Shanghai, Professor Wu Xinbo, the director of the Center for American Studies at the city’s Fudan University, noted, “The serving of the same wine Nixon used during his China visit in the early 1970s indicates that the current China-U.S. relationship is at an important and historically significant juncture, and President Xi’s visit is historic and a milestone.”
Further, it was widely reported in China that following a tea reception held at the White House for Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan, Trump remarked: “The United States was very pleased with this visit, and that the visit has been very productive.” Asked why Trump placed such importance on Xi’s visit, Wu said: “Interactions outside of formal talks, whether it’s taking a walk, having tea, or visiting culturally and historically significant sites, can create a relaxed and informal atmosphere for the leaders of both countries.”
Notably, Wu was invited to attend the state banquet welcoming Trump in Beijing earlier in May this year. Hence, it is understandable that he attaches great importance to opportunities leaders create beyond formal meetings.
At another level, some scholars in China, especially economists, see the current friction in China-U.S. relations arising out of “imbalance” in the economies of the world’s two largest powers. Addressing the issue of the need for “balance” and “equilibrium” between China and the United States at a recent economists’ forum on the eve of Xi’s Washington visit, Professor Ju Jiandong of Tsinghua University in Beijing said: “The currently existing extreme pattern of China doing manufacturing and the United States doing finance is inherently unstable, which is the root cause of the competition between China and the United States.” The Tsinghua professor recently published a controversial book, “The Great Power Competition and the Restructuring of World Order,” in which he argued that the “only way for China and the U.S. to avoid a lose-lose situation is to move from hegemonic iterations to competitive coexistence.”
In sharp contrast, scholars belonging to the fan-Mei faction in China have become more suspicious of the United States given Trump’s “rare, dramatic” personal touch in welcoming the Chinese leader. Scholars in this camp pointed out two examples of Trump going out of his way to impress. One, Trump made a great show of personally greeting Xi at the airport, at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington, D.C. The last time a U.S. president personally welcomed a foreign leader in this manner was 11 years ago, when Barack Obama met Pope Francis at the airport in 2015. Earlier, in 1962, John F. Kennedy had similarly welcomed British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan.
The other dramatic event that particularly drew attention from the Chinese skeptics was Trump making some startling remarks at the banquet welcoming the Chinese head of state. Citing reports widely circulated in Chinese media, one commentary noted Trump “shamelessly” declaring that the relationship between the two countries has never been as harmonious as it is now. Reacting adversely to the word “harmonious,” the commentary called it “a remarkable attempt by U.S. President Trump to whitewash the current state of the relationship.”
Three factors explain this skepticism targeting Trump and his theatrics while hosting Xi. First, as mentioned, China’s skeptics are apprehensive of China being lulled into a false sense of security. Characterizing Trump as a leader who is “two-faced and hypocritical,” these scholars assert that Trump cannot be trusted. They want CCP leaders to always be vigilant of “untrustworthy” Trump. As the commentary cited above put it: “Trump acted this way towards Russia, and he did the same toward Iran, North Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela. Regarding China, he has repeatedly attacked over the years, displaying the same ugly nature of a two-faced and hypocritical person.”
Second, some in China suspect Trump’s lavish reception of Xi was a tactic to sow discord between China and Russia. It is argued that Trump has always been outspoken about breaking up the close relationship between China and Russia, seeking to isolate them. These Chinese scholars further argue that before his “dramatic” hospitality toward Xi, Trump was on record in making efforts to cultivate the most “harmonious” Russia-U.S. relationship possible. However, that attempt backfired, resulting in domestic criticism and accusations of collusion with Russia. Now, he’s elevating the China-U.S. relationship to an unprecedented level.
Some in China are even drawing parallels between Trump’s statement praising unprecedented harmony in China-U.S. relations at present with the historic scenario of the United States and China joining forces against the Soviet Union.
“This baseless accusation is not without purpose; its direct effect is to place China-U.S. relations above China-Russia relations, while still maintaining a strong intention to dismantle them,” scholar Zhang Zhikun argued.
Third, some Chinese skeptics are putting forward what appears to be bizarre logic: Trump’s attempt to “whitewash” China-U.S. relations are aimed to stabilize ties so that the United States can act without restraint. Scholars advancing this argument acknowledge that a section of the media and political elite in the United States is highly critical of Trump’s “subservient” approach toward Xi. However, given Trump’s capricious and ambitious nature, it is extremely difficult to fathom the U.S. leader’s true intentions. The fan-Mei faction vehemently argues that “he [Trump] is using appeasement to stabilize [relations with] China, allowing the U.S. to act with greater impunity and wage war around the world.”
To sum up, it is quite clear Trump has succeeded in further deepening the divide between rival qin-Mei and fan-Mei factions among Chinese foreign policy experts, especially the U.S. watchers in China. They interpret the summit – and its implications for China – quite differently.
The two Chinese factions do have one thing in common: they share the viewpoint that changes in Sino-U.S. relations will inevitably lead to corresponding changes in relations among countries around the world. Many Chinese scholars agree that any change in the highly complex China-U.S. relations will not affect Taiwan and Japan, as the two have “secured” their respective interests vis-a-vis the United States. However, some Chinese scholars are of the opinion that changes in China-U.S. relations will lead North Korea to gravitate toward Russia and India toward the United States.
