Beijing —
US President Donald Trump’s visit to China this week may have been short on immediate deals addressing frictions over tech and trade. But there’s little question that Chinese leader Xi Jinping will be viewing it as a resounding success.
Beijing didn’t need big tangible outcomes to achieve major wins, like projecting China as an equal to the US on the global stage, and directing the tone of the relationship – including around Taiwan.
Trump’s visit appears to have delivered on both.
The hours the two leaders spent together over Trump’s three-day stay were full of great-power bonhomie and effusive praise from the American president, who called the US-China relationship one of the “most consequential” in world history.
