From ‘cheats’ to ‘great friendship’: How Trump’s rhetoric on China changed
Warmth on display in Washington contrasts significantly with the language Trump has used to characterise Beijing and Xi.
When Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Washington on Wednesday evening, United States President Donald Trump rolled out a warm and unusually lavish welcome for his Chinese counterpart.
Trump went down to Joint Base Andrews near Washington to greet Xi on the tarmac – the first time a US president has greeted a foreign leader in such a way since 1962, when John F Kennedy welcomed UK Prime Minister Harold Macmillan.
Though the Xi-Trump meeting delivered little significant shift in relations beyond extending a fragile trade war truce for another two months, Washington laid on hours of pageantry, more pomp and lavish tours for Xi’s entourage, and praise for the Chinese president and his wife.
But nearly a year since the two sides called that temporary truce, the US position is not as strong as China’s, analysts say.