Beijing Trip Report - by Michael McFaul - McFaul's World

[Frank S T Hsiao]

 

Beijing Trip Report - by Michael McFaul - McFaul's World

Trump constantly praised Xi as a close friend and great leader. Xi did not reciprocate. I was told that this lack of praise for Trump was intentional, in part because Xi remembered that tariffs and confrontational policies soon followed the final summit they held in Beijing in 2017. Xi did not want to get burned again.

Behind closed doors, or so I heard multiple times last week from Chinese colleagues, Xi pressed Trump hard on American and Japanese support for Taiwan. Xi felt emboldened to do so in part because of Trump’s weak position internationally, but also because Xi did not back down when Trump tried to impose expansive tariffs against China, but instead pushed back by threatening to cut off rare earth exports. In that game of chicken last year, Xi held firm, and Trump backed down. So, Xi was feeling confident during the summit and emboldened to push harder on Taiwan than in previous meetings. The consensus among scholars I met last week in Beijing is that Xi got what he wanted on Taiwan. Judging by Trump’s subsequent comments, including his decision to delay arms shipments in Taiwan, maybe my Chinese colleagues were right. Strikingly, Secretary of Defense Peter Hegseth gave a speech in Singapore this week in which he did not mention Taiwan once in his prepared remarks.