Beyond Taiwan, a ‘Decent Peace’ at the Trump-Xi Summit

(Michael Froman – Council on Foreign Relations) U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping just wrapped up their long-awaited summit. Expectations were low—and met. We are, officially, “not fighting,” which is better than the alternative, but the form and substance of the meeting merit a close read. If the summit was short on major concrete deliverables—at least as far as we know at this point—it was long on protocol, pomp, and circumstance. From the reviewing of the troops to the throngs of screaming children to the People’s Liberation Army band playing Trump’s beloved “YMCA,” in what was surely the first rendition of the Village People’s hit single by uniformed Chinese military personnel, the choreography was meant to impress, if not flatter, the U.S. president. Not to be outdone, Trump noted that the number of Chinese restaurants “outnumber the five largest fast-food chains in the United States, all combined.” He observed that the “Chinese now love basketball and blue jeans.” Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s six-year-old son, known as Lil X, was spotted scurrying about the Great Hall of the People in an embroidered Tang Dynasty-style vest, clutching a small “tiger head” bag. Within hours, Chinese netizens were scrambling to buy copies of his outfit on e-commerce site Taobao. – Beyond Taiwan, a ‘Decent Peace’ at the Trump-Xi Summit | Council on Foreign Relations