Donald Trump is scheduled to meet with Chinese president Xi Jinping today on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany. For all the hoopla about Trump’s Friday face-off with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, the stakes of today’s meeting are much higher.
This will be Trump’s second meeting with the Chinese leader. Their first, held in April at Trump’s resort in Mar-a-lago, Florida, ended with unexpected affirmations of bonhomie. “We had great chemistry,” Trump boasted after that encounter. “I liked him and he liked me a lot.” But the chemistry this time may prove combustible.
Over the past two weeks, Trump has signaled his growing exasperation with Xi for China’s failure to pressure North Korean strongman Kim Jong-un to abandon his quest to develop nuclear missiles capable of striking the United States. The first hint of trouble came in a backhanded Trump tweet: “While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi & China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out. At least I know China tried!”
Twits followed tweets. Over the past week the U.S. has slapped sanctions on the China-based Bank of Dandong for helping North Korea to finance its weapons programs; announced $1.4 billion in arms sales to Taiwan; and conducted “freedom-of-navigation operations” within 12 nautical miles of Triton, an island in the South China Sea that is occupied by China but claimed by Vietnam. The State Department also placed China on its global list of the worst offenders in human trafficking, and senior U.S. officials renewed trade threats against Beijing including steep tariffs on Chinese steel imports.
China expressed “outrage” at the arms sales to Taiwan, but mostly held its fire. Not so Kim Jong-un. On July 4, the Dear Leader supervised the launch of Pyongyang’s first intercontinental ballistic missile, a weapon experts say demonstrates North Korea ability to lob nukes as far as Alaska. Kim described the missile test as an Independence Day “gift” for the “American bastards.”
Suddenly the Trump – Xi tryst looks as lasting as a Taylor Swift fling. “Where did the bromance go?” lamented Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post. “The surprise is not that the honeymoon has come to an end but that there was ever one at all,” tsked the Economist.
Among global pundits there’s an emerging consensus that the relationship was “doomed” from the start because of “illusions” on all sides. Huang Jing, an expert at the National University of Singapore, says Xi was “rather naive” to imagine he could mollify Trump with minor trade concessions and personal charm. He thinks “Trump is a weak and embattled leader” beholden to conservatives who will crucify him if he goes soft on China.