https://www.scmp.com/rss/324246/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com When the first summit between presidents Xi Jinping (習近平) and Barack Obama took place in June 2013, there was an interesting photo of them walking side by side at the picturesque Rancho Mirage in California, in striking resemblance to the strides of Winnie the Pooh and Tigger. Back then, the Sino-US relationship actually resembled the pleasant relationship between Pooh and Tigger. This time round, at the meeting in Florida, although US President Donald Trump does not have a figure as slim as... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2089574/china-and-us-must-narrow-trade-gap-boosting-trade-rather?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2089574/china-and-us-must-narrow-trade-gap-boosting-trade-rather?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 23 Apr 2017 05:00:30 +0000 It is hard to know how to assess the just-concluded Mar-a-Lago summit between presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping (習近平). Should one feel exulted that an interpersonal train wreck was avoided between the two leaders, each of whom is hypersensitive about “face”? Should one feel despondent that, with so many issues crying out for cooperation, the two sides were unable to achieve and announce any significant, tangible outcomes? Or, should we sift through the detritus of the 21-hour event with... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2086646/xi-jinping-and-donald-trump-still-need-find-strategic?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2086646/xi-jinping-and-donald-trump-still-need-find-strategic?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 11 Apr 2017 08:31:56 +0000 The American missile strike against the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad might have overshadowed the first summit between presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. But Beijing probably welcomed that. For the two events clearly demonstrate two things: firstly, that the US has far too many interests and agendas it needs help with from a friendly China, and secondly that Russia is not America’s friend, but a rival, if not an outright enemy. The Assad regime has become Russia’s most important client... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2086516/donald-trump-has-finally-realised-he-needs-china-friend?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2086516/donald-trump-has-finally-realised-he-needs-china-friend?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 10 Apr 2017 17:06:22 +0000 Everything is difficult at the beginning, a matter-of-fact Chinese saying goes. That was certainly the case before President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump started their two-day summit at the American leader’s Florida estate. But after dinner, social time and seven hours of talks, during which they got to know and understand one another better, months of uncertainty for China were largely removed and replaced by ways to cooperate and handle challenges. It is proof of the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2086513/xi-trump-summit-has-laid-firm-foundation-future-ties?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2086513/xi-trump-summit-has-laid-firm-foundation-future-ties?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 10 Apr 2017 16:43:41 +0000 Last week, the 45th president of the United States paid proper tribute to the People’s Republic of China – which, by the way, would have been a whirlwind week for the Trump administration even without the big-deal dinner for leader Xi Jinping (習近平). And though the summit venue was the annoyingly opulent tuhao-class Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, it was otherwise calming on the nerves to observe our often off-key Donald Trump saying and doing, for once, the right thing. Trump was in celebrity... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2086380/why-us-needs-china-succeed-and-vice-versa?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2086380/why-us-needs-china-succeed-and-vice-versa?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 10 Apr 2017 09:02:43 +0000 The summit between the world’s two most powerful leaders was surprisingly amicable and constructive. Both sides managed to stick to the script, projecting a shared commitment to responsibly manage their relations. US President Donald Trump and his Chinese guest, President Xi Jinping, seemed cordial, subdued and focused on the difficult task of navigating the most consequential bilateral relationship of the century. The meeting was also partly overshadowed by the White House’s decision to bombard... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2086242/opinion-xi-and-trump-learn-split-difference-trade-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2086242/opinion-xi-and-trump-learn-split-difference-trade-and?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 09 Apr 2017 16:04:24 +0000 Mainland state media are portraying President Xi Jinping as a strong leader who managed to stabilise China-US relations during two days of meetings with his US counterpart Donald Trump in Florida. But some analysts say the real importance of last week’s summit was in building Xi’s political portfolio ahead of this autumn’s keynote 19th Communist Party congress. Party mouthpiece People’s Daily said in an editorial on Sunday that the Chinese president’s first meeting with Trump at the latter’s... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2086241/summit-trump-sends-message-home-xi?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2086241/summit-trump-sends-message-home-xi?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 09 Apr 2017 16:00:15 +0000 Chinese President Xi Jinping’s two-day visit to US President Donald Trump’s over-the-top estate at Mar-a-Lago in Florida was meant to offer an opportunity to showcase China as an equal to the United States. Xi would ideally have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Trump, amid all the pomp and ostentatious kitsch of what Trump has called his ‘Winter White House’, and impressed on the US administration that China’s long-sought reality of a ‘G2’ of sorts with the United States was now a fait accompli... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2086146/summit-was-not-quite-meeting-equals-xi-would-have?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2086146/summit-was-not-quite-meeting-equals-xi-would-have?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 09 Apr 2017 05:49:40 +0000 The leaders of China and the United States wrapped up their much-anticipated summit with both saying the talks put Sino-US ties on a good track – despite the bumpy diplomatic ride since US President Donald Trump’s election. The meeting on Friday yielded a bold commitment to address trade disputes and elevate their discussions, but a chasm remains over North Korea. The outcomes are symbolic but better than anticipated – Trump dropped his anti-China rhetoric, enabling President Xi Jinping to... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2086030/xi-trump-summit-beats-expectations-chinas-leader-making?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2086030/xi-trump-summit-beats-expectations-chinas-leader-making?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 08 Apr 2017 07:00:15 +0000 Xi Jinping’s meeting with America’s volatile new president promises some measure of clarity as to how the North Korean issue will play out between Beijing and Washington in the coming years. By now, most readers will have formed strong views about US threats of a pre-emptive strike on North Korea, or the unavoidable controversy over the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) anti-missile system and its attendant strategic and commercial anxieties. But less clear than either of these rather... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2085850/opinion-trump-and-xi-jinping-are-impasse-how-deal-north?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2085850/opinion-trump-and-xi-jinping-are-impasse-how-deal-north?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 08 Apr 2017 01:36:07 +0000 The first meeting of US President Donald Trump and his guest President Xi Jinping ended with a flourish of friendship. While the summit in Palm Beach signalled a warm reboot of Sino-US relations, the logistics of two large government delegations on a small barrier island ended up heightening differences between two sides of the Palm Beach area. Donald Trump accepts Xi Jinping’s invitation to visit China And ironically, the day ended with Trump’s announcement of what appears to be a new US... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2085741/summit-highlights-two-different-sides-florida-seaside?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2085741/summit-highlights-two-different-sides-florida-seaside?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 07 Apr 2017 07:30:41 +0000 China’s neighbours in Asia will be watching the Sino-US summit to see if the role of the United States as a key security player in the region will be reduced, observers said. The analysts said Asian nations were concerned that US leadership in the region might be “traded off” if China gave concessions to President Donald Trump on trade, but were also worried about being forced to take sides if ties between China and the US worsened. Why the Xi-Trump summit is a high-stakes gamble President Xi... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2085161/why-chinas-asian-neighbours-are-so-nervous-over-xi?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2085161/why-chinas-asian-neighbours-are-so-nervous-over-xi?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 06 Apr 2017 04:06:56 +0000 US President Donald Trump could echo one of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s favourite catchphrases during their first meeting on Thursday in Florida, in exchange for concessions from Beijing over North Korea and Trump’s other priorities such as the trade imbalance between the countries, diplomatic experts say. Such an unprecedented trade-off between the leaders of the world’s two biggest economies on the “new type of great power relations” is expected to appear in a joint statement at the end of... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2085117/will-trump-echo-xis-words-leaders-first-meeting?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2085117/will-trump-echo-xis-words-leaders-first-meeting?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 05 Apr 2017 22:00:00 +0000 Expectations are always high ahead of summits between the leaders of China and the United States. That is especially so as presidents Xi Jinping (習近平 ) and Donald Trump prepare to meet after months of uncertainty about the shape of American foreign policy. But while there are significant issues to be discussed, the two days of talks in Florida this week have to be more about building personal rapport and finding common ground than reaching agreements and striking deals. Constructive ties between... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2085259/establishing-good-communication-should-be-goal-us-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2085259/establishing-good-communication-should-be-goal-us-china?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 05 Apr 2017 20:43:28 +0000 This week’s summit between President Xi Jinping and US counterpart Donald Trump has rekindled an old debate about the meaning of diplomacy. Summit diplomacy is perceived differently in Beijing and Washington, with Chinese diplomats appearing to attach more importance to protocol and American ones preferring to focus on substance over form, and that raises the stakes enormously. Gu Su, an expert on mainland politics from Nanjing University, said the debate might boil down to differences in... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2084304/why-xi-trump-summit-high-stakes-gamble?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2084304/why-xi-trump-summit-high-stakes-gamble?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 05 Apr 2017 16:00:00 +0000 The Chinese and US presidents both dream of national rejuvenation, and that could be a nightmare scenario for Sino-US relations. US President Donald Trump, a billionaire real estate developer, won election last year with his populist pledge to “Make America Great Again”. China’s Xi Jinping (習近平), a Communist Party “princeling”, has amassed great power four years into his first term as party chief with his nationalistic appeal for realisation of a “Chinese dream”. As both men consolidate their... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2084586/will-dream-shared-xi-jinping-and-donald-trump-become?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2084586/will-dream-shared-xi-jinping-and-donald-trump-become?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 05 Apr 2017 04:01:27 +0000 Few Chinese-Americans tuning in for news of this week’s summit meeting between presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump have ever had to make a choice over where their national loyalties lie. Many were not even born in the years when each side branded the other enemy number one and racial epithets were acceptable even in polite society. China and the US have enjoyed nearly 40 years of relatively stable diplomatic relations. Tensions have flared, to be sure. The pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2084643/chinese-americans-hope-friendship-not-rancour-xi-trump?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2084643/chinese-americans-hope-friendship-not-rancour-xi-trump?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 04 Apr 2017 06:15:00 +0000 United States President Donald Trump has done a fine job lowering expectations for his April 6 to 7 summit with China’s President Xi Jinping, tweeting that the meeting “with China will be a very difficult one in that we can no longer have massive trade deficits and job losses”. Investors might wish to take that downbeat assessment with a large pinch of salt. In November Xi said he would work with the newly-elected Trump, just as he had with former President Barack Obama, “to uphold the... https://www.scmp.com/business/global-economy/article/2084597/florida-summit-could-be-game-changer-us-and-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/global-economy/article/2084597/florida-summit-could-be-game-changer-us-and-china?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 04 Apr 2017 03:29:41 +0000 And so, at long last, Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet his unconventional and bombastic US counterpart Donald Trump. The two leaders will meet at an informal summit hosted on Thursday and Friday at Trump’s estate in Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida. With the stakes as high as ever in the relationship between the world’s foremost superpower and its burgeoning rival, the Mar-a-Lago summit stands to be historic. Although neither side has exactly clarified the agenda for the Trump-Xi talks,... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2084373/opinion-why-xi-trump-summit-florida-will-be-one-history?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2084373/opinion-why-xi-trump-summit-florida-will-be-one-history?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 03 Apr 2017 12:38:52 +0000 When Donald Trump was a boy, his parents apparently concluded he needed discipline. So they sent him to a military school. What he was taught apparently did not stick, however, judging from his chaotic behaviour as an adult and now as president of the United States. When Xi Jinping ( 習近平 ) was a boy, he experienced the life-threatening chaos of the Cultural Revolution at first hand and learned to subjugate and discipline himself. Now, as China’s Communist Party general secretary and the nation’s... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2084377/can-xi-jinping-and-donald-trump-show-maturity-when-it?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2084377/can-xi-jinping-and-donald-trump-show-maturity-when-it?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 03 Apr 2017 09:40:26 +0000 China’s top diplomat will finally have his moment when President Xi Jinping basks in the limelight of his first sit-down encounter with US counterpart Donald Trump at the lavish Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida next week. State Councillor Yang Jiechi, Xi’s top foreign policy aide, is widely believed to have played a central role in preparations for the summit, which diplomatic pundits describe as a “blind date” between two alpha males. According to diplomatic sources in Beijing, Yang, who outranks... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2083810/man-behind-xi-trump-summit?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2083810/man-behind-xi-trump-summit?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 01 Apr 2017 10:00:45 +0000 Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and American President Donald Trump will hold a get-acquainted summit next week at Trump’s seaside retreat in Florida. Simply the fact that the two are meeting is a positive sign that provides some much-needed reassurance to a very uncertain relationship between the two countries. The entire Asia-Pacific region and the wider world have been nervously anticipating how the two major powers will deal with each other. While each leader will take the other’s measure... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2083512/can-steely-xi-jinping-and-volatile-donald-trump-find-right?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2083512/can-steely-xi-jinping-and-volatile-donald-trump-find-right?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 31 Mar 2017 06:07:07 +0000 In the second term of Bill Clinton’s presidency, and the reign of Jiang Zemin (江澤民) and Zhu Rongji ( 朱鎔基 ), when both sides put economic engagement over geopolitical jiujitsu, overall trust levels between the US and Chinese governments seemed to be on an uptick. When China entered the World Trade Organisation – in 2001, just months into the George W. Bush administration – the Clintonites had reason to feel they had made a bit of history. Bilateral ties seemed to be heading in a pragmatic... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2082376/how-xi-trump-summit-can-rebuild-sino-us-trust-and-bring?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2082376/how-xi-trump-summit-can-rebuild-sino-us-trust-and-bring?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 27 Mar 2017 09:45:15 +0000 A year and a half ago, when Donald Trump descended from his golden escalator into the gold-leafed lobby of Trump Tower to announce his candidacy for president, a reporter asked him if he was capable of dealing with China. “Sure,” he answered, “last week I sold a $15 million condominium to someone from China.” President Trump is going to need to marshal his best condo selling talent for his summit with China’s President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago in April. Diplomats are still struggling to finalise... https://www.scmp.com/directories/article/2080286/trump-going-need-his-best-condo-selling-talent-april-summit-chinas?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/directories/article/2080286/trump-going-need-his-best-condo-selling-talent-april-summit-chinas?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 19 Mar 2017 11:00:45 +0000 On overseas visits, China’s top leaders typically relish grand welcoming ceremonies and elaborate protocols that make great optics for home audiences, but their meticulously scripted talking points invariably make them bland and dull in the eyes of overseas audiences. Personal diplomacy, in which Chinese leaders take off their ties and join hosts for some unscripted time of informal talks or simple fun, has been an acquired taste and only on special occasions. Watch: Deng’s visit to Texas The... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2079403/when-xi-meets-trump-why-casual-approach-mar-lago-could-pay?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2079403/when-xi-meets-trump-why-casual-approach-mar-lago-could-pay?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 19 Mar 2017 03:30:15 +0000 NEWS OF THE planned summit between US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping ( 習近平 ), to be held at the billionaire’s lavish Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, from April 6 to 7, might prompt memories of those heady days in 2013 when Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama hosted the Chinese leader at the Sunnylands retreat in California. But the first Trump-Xi summit is unlikely to be as relaxing or as intimate as the one four years back when the competition and rivalry... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2079955/dark-side-trump-and-xis-summit-sunny-florida?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2079955/dark-side-trump-and-xis-summit-sunny-florida?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 18 Mar 2017 10:00:00 +0000 When will US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping meet? If there’s any meeting between world leaders that’ll be among the most anticipated in 2017, it’s the inevitable meeting between Trump and Xi. Trump, as he seemingly stewards the United States’ decline, has long-emphasised his interest in rethinking the US relationship with China. After Trump’s inauguration, Sino-US ties were at first slow-moving. Even as Trump racked up headlines over phone calls with numerous foreign... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2078193/making-xi-trump-summit-most-anticipated-world-leaders?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2078193/making-xi-trump-summit-most-anticipated-world-leaders?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 12 Mar 2017 08:00:15 +0000