The Chinese appear to have come off better from the Xi Jinping-Trump summit, showing composure and maturity as compared to the US president’s “lack of confidence which was very visible,” says Harsh Pant, head of strategic studies at the Observer Research Foundation.
In a conversation on The Gist, Pant believes the optics of the visit underscored what China has been saying, that they want to be seen on par with Washington, and the US should be the one coming to China to ask for certain things.
“The Chinese gave Trump everything he wanted in terms of circumstance and pomp but nothing of substance,” Pant noted, “the declaration was bland, the Chinese drew a line and held onto that line. Taiwan was off the table.”
Was there anything in the visit which suggested a return to that old “G2” formulation of old? “I think the Chinese are making a case for it,” he said, “and are using the term constructive strategic management, meaning both countries will have to work together because this is the most consequential partnership.”
The Chinese are very conscious that the power transition they are ushering in has implications for the global order and much of that will be negative. So they are saying, let it be a “managed transition” where the US gradually yields ground to China.
Whether Trump accepts this formulation in toto or in part will depend on him, but as far as Beijing is concerned, the way forward is clear.
Panat notes that the world has reason to feel uncomfortable when two powers show “revisionist” tendencies. Until now it was China which was seen as a “revisionist power”, but even the US under Trump is showing that.
The key question is whether Trump will recognise he’s got a bloody nose in Iran. Even if he knows, one thing remains unchanged: to him goes the credit or otherwise of changing the discourse on China, a discourse that will outlast him.
Tune in for more in this converasation with Harsh Pant, head of the strategic studies programme at the Observer Research Foundation.
