Welcome to Thursday’s edition of Washington Secrets. Today, we ask who wanted what from the China summit and who came out of it ahead. (Spoiler: Probably the guy quoting Thucydides.) Plus, what is a “Mullah corner?”President Donald Trump used all the tricks at his disposal when he met Xi Jinping in Beijing. He pulled the Chinese leader’s hand close to him and didn’t let go for 15 seconds.And at one point on the red carpet, Trump displayed his physical dominance by striding down the center, bumping his Chinese counterpart to the side.
None of that mattered, though.
While Trump arrived for the summit wanting deals and help on Iran, Xi wanted only one thing: for China to be recognized as an equal power. He got it in spades.
“I say it to everybody, you’re a great leader,” Trump said to Xi. “Sometimes people don’t like me saying it. But I say it anyway because it’s true.”
Traveling with him on the trip, he added, were his country’s top business executives who wanted to “pay respects to you and to China.”
