While you were sleeping, it was day one of President Donald Trump’s historic second high-stakes China summit. There were waving children (again) and bilateral talks, an American-influenced state dinner, and speeches and tours and more speeches. Here are the highlights of what you missed.
Throughout the day, Trump appeared to lavish praise onto President Xi, referring to the world leader as his “friend” on multiple occasions and calling him a “great leader.”
By comparison, Xi seemingly did not return the compliment but told Trump during a bilateral meeting that the U.S. and China should be “partners, not rivals.”
Xi dropped some ancient politics in his speech to open the talks on Thursday morning, per the New York Times:
In his remarks, Xi mentioned the ‘Thucydides Trap,’ a concept rooted in the ancient rivalry between Athens and Sparta and popularized by Harvard scholar Graham Allison. The theory suggests that an established power and a rising power are almost driven by history to clash. Xi and other Chinese officials have used the idea to argue that China and the United States must avoid that fate.“As the once-in-a-century transformation accelerates and the international landscape undergoes change and turmoil, the world has reached a new crossroads,” Xi said. “Can China and the United States overcome the ‘Thucydides Trap’ and establish a new paradigm for relations between great powers?”
