Trump in China: A Case Study Of US Decline
Signs of decline can be dramatic or they can be small. Dramatic ones include military and strategic failure that make it obvious that a state is no longer the force that it was. Smaller signs can be seen in the use of diplomatic language or tenor of conversation. We are witnessing the latter in a clear and unmistakable way.
To understand this, lets go back to 2022, the last time the American president, Joe Biden in this case, met the Chinese president, the same Xi Jinping who rules today. During that meeting, Xi pressed Biden on the issue of American support for Taiwan. In this instance, Biden pressed back strongly, publicly telling Xi that the use of Chinese military force against Taiwan would be a major mistake. Biden was very direct.
“I absolutely believe there need not be a new Cold War. I have met many times with Xi Jinping and we were candid and clear with one another across the board. I do not think there is any imminent attempt on the part of China to invade Taiwan,” he said.
“I made it clear we want to see cross-strait issues to be peacefully resolved and so it never has to come to that. And I’m convinced that he understood what I was saying, I understood what he was saying.”
Over the last few hours the Chinese president repeated is close to identical words the warning he gave Biden over Taiwan in 2022. Here was how Chinese warnings about Taiwan were expressed.
Xi warned Trump during their meeting that the issue of Taiwan, which Beijing claims as part of its territory, could bring the two countries into conflict, according to a readout from Xinhua, China’s official news agency. “Handled well, the two countries can maintain stability. If handled poorly, the two countries will collide or even clash, putting the entire U.S.-China relationship in an extremely dangerous situation,” he said.
What was Donald Trump’s response? That would be nothing. When asked publicly by the press about Taiwan, Trump looked away and refused to say anything at all, even though he had just answered another question. This raised eyebrows instantly in Taiwan, where Trump’s silence has been reported on ominously.
US President Donald Trump today told Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Beijing that “it’s an honor to be your friend,” even as his Chinese counterpart offered warnings about avoiding a possible clash between the two nations during their meeting.
Asked how the talks with Xi went, Trump said: “Great.”
However, that is about all he said.
Trump’s silence spoke volumes about US decline, how the US is going into this summit as a supplicant needing Chinese help. It also confirms how little the US cares and can do anything to protect key democratic allies. The whole story of the summit is making this story even more clear.
First, we have the US
