For Chinese officials, Xi Jinping’s first face-to-face encounter with Donald Trump in Florida was a success, principally because it was not a disaster.
From the perspective of China’s risk-averse Communist rulers, the summit was always going to be a high-risk gambit. But with an increasing realisation in both Washington and Beijing that the current imbalances in their trade and investment relationship are not sustainable, meeting Mr Trump on his home turf was a risk Mr Xi had to take. The alternative was a possible all-out trade war between the world’s two largest economies just as the Chinese president prepares for a second five-year term with a revamped leadership team. During such “selection years”, economic and social stability is the paramount concern for the ruling Chinese Communist party.
Like so many other capitals around the world, including Washington, Beijing wants to know if Mr Trump is crazy like a fox — or just crazy. Either way, it is an academic distinction. Whether the US president ultimately upends the world’s most consequential bilateral relationship by accident or by design, the damage will be done.