'Trump was predictable' | Simon Marks' American Week

While Britain has been totally focused on the political drama playing out on the other side of the Atlantic, this side of the pond, we've been reminded this week, there's a great big world out there.President Trump arriving in Beijing for what would build as crucial talks with President Xi Jinping, a state visit originally due to take place at the end of March.But the US leader's fateful decision to wage war on Iran put paid to that.This week, with the president sliding Iran briefly to the back burner, the Chinese offered the pomp and ceremony that Trump coveted.Everywhere the American leader went, there were youngsters on hand, lining the pathways, waving flags and flowers, and jumping up and down with enthusiastic excitement.The Chinese laid it on with a trowel, and President Trump lapped it up.

At the state banquet and throughout his talks, President Trump was accompanied by an entourage of cabinet officials, but more importantly, by 17 top American CEOs, including NVIDIA's Jensen Huang, Apple's Tim Cook, and the ubiquitous Elon Musk, along with, once again for inexplicable reasons, his six -year -old son.Nowhere to be found in the US delegation were any American officials steeped in Chinese history nor policy, not a single one of them made the cut, a staggering choice given the stakes.

I'm very pleased to meet you in Beijing.Welcome back to China after nine years.

President Xi, speaking through an interpreter, made it clear from the beginning that he understood the gravity of the moment.

Currently, transformation not seen in a century is accelerating across the globe and the internationalis fluid and turbulent.The world has come to a new crossroads.Can China and the United States overcome the Thucydides trap?and create a new paradigm of major country relations.

Now, I think it is a fair bet that the American president has never heard of the Thucydides trap, and might have wondered if it's a new kind of mouse catcher that the Chinese are hoping to bring to the American market.In fact, rooted in the writings of the ancient Greek historian, it refers to the risk of war, between an emerging major power and the established country that it is supplanting.Right from the get -go, in other words, President Xi demonstrated he thinks America is in decline and this will be China's century.And what he heard back from President Trump when it was the US leader's turn to speak will only have emboldened him in that conviction.Here, at length, President Trump's predictable pablum during his opening remarks.

Well, President Xi, I want to thank you very much.First of all, that was an honour like few have ever seen before.You and I have known each other now for a long time.In fact, the longest relationship of our two countries that any president and president has had.And that's, to me, an honour.We've had a fantastic relationship.

We've gotten along.When there were difficulties, we worked it out.You're a great leader.I say it to everybody.You're a great leader.Sometimes people don't like me saying it, but I say it anyway because it's true.

I only say the truth.And there are those that say this is maybe the biggest summit ever.They can never remember anything like it.I can say in the United States, people aren't talking about anything else.But it's an honor to be with you.It's an honor to be your friend.

And the relationship between China and the USA is going to be better than ever before.Thank you very much.

At the end of that, the Chinese poll video shows President Xi's reaction, smiling like the cat who stole the cream.A glance at his colleagues suggested he realized the US leader had simply come to prostrate himself before the Chinese leadership and beg for business deals.And so President Xi moved in for the kill.The question of Taiwan is the most important question.That is Chinese state TV news anchor Liu Xin appearing on Russian propaganda channel RT and echoing that President Xi's main message to his American visitor was, if you turn a blind eye when I invade and take over Taiwan, well, then we can have a proper nata.

If President Trump is able to send an unequivocal message to those who are attempting separatism, then things will be easier.There will be more peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.The Americans will not be dragged into another unwanted conflict.I think the situation is already very, very clear.Now, let us hear what President Trump will say on his part to this question.

I tell you what, let's clamber aboard Air Force One and do exactly that.

best defend Taiwan if it came to it?I don't want to say.I'm not going to say that.There's only one person that knows that.You know who it is?Me. I'm the only person.

That question was asked to me today by President Xi.I said, I don't talk about that.

Now, it seems to me that in a battle of who can be more inscrutable, the Americans or the Chinese, Beijing has probably got that one in the bag.But what about the $14 billion in U .S.weapons sales to Taiwan that Congress approved in January?Reporters wondered, is that still on the table?

Now we discussed arms sales, and I'll be making decisions.But you know, I think the last thing we need right now is a war that's 9 ,500 miles away.I think that's the last thing we need.

Translation?After both the Iran mess and President Xi laying the arm on him, it doesn't sound like Taipei is getting its interceptor missiles, air defense system, or anti -drone gear anytime soon.As for America protecting Taiwan, if it comes under Chinese attack, that is definitely not sounding ironclad.The president insists he's brought back fantastic trade deals between the two countries, although there is no evidence to support that claim.Certainly nobody brought anything physical back from China.Before boarding Air Force One for the flight home, everyone was told to dump anything they had been given.

press passes, burner phones, badges, pens, souvenirs.It all went into rubbish bags that were left on the tarmac to try and avoid any Chinese surveillance devices.Which brings us neatly to the stunningly naive reporting from China that American TV viewers were treated to this week.While the president was demonstrating how far America's governing intellect has fallen, the country's star TV anchors wandering the streets of Beijing brought the US media to new lows.

There are literally cameras everywhere in Beijing.We are outside the Haidian station, and I can count at least 20 on this corner.

Brett Baier, host of the 6 PM Hour on Fox News, stunned by what he was seeing.China's surveillance state at work, its efficiency even hitting home.

In fact, our driver parked illegally for two minutes, and he got a message on his phone.

Now, I don't know if Brett gets out.much, but more than 22 American states already have very similar systems set up.Number plate and facial recognition technology are everywhere here.And if you parked illegally on Fifth Avenue in New York, you'd pay a heck of a lot more than $40 for the infraction, even if you were a big name anchor.There's more.Let's join Mr. Bayer as he goes off in search of a snack.

This is the Family Mart convenience store in Beijing.Beijing is trying to lead the way in AI and also in humanoid robots.

It was a bit like going through the round window on PlaySchool.

This is the first of its kind, moving a little slow, but Gaobat is actually in 50 different pharmacies, warehouses, handling 300 ,000 orders around the country.Clearly, China wants to lead the way in this interaction.

Thank you so much.Now, I hate to point this out, but there is already one of those at San Francisco Airport.It's serving coffee and pastries.Meanwhile, Fox's top reporter at the White House, Pete Doocy, was utterly beguiled by what he found just yards from his Beijing hotel.

At McDonald's here, you can get crispy bone -in wings that are pretty good.At Starbucks, you can get a lasagna for lunch.

I'll tell you what else you can get at the Starbucks in Beijing, drinkable coffee.I've had it.Now, back in New York, just in case Fox News viewers were beginning to think about packing their bags and moving to China for the lunchtime lasagna, anchor Jesse Waters, who did not make the trip to Beijing, was on deck to set them straight.

Once the UnitedStates gets fast food into a country...That's it.Fried chicken, Big Macs, chalupas.They start listening to our music, watching our movies.They start marrying our women.

I'm just kidding.We don't allow that.But that's basically now an American colony.We got them hooked, and it's pretty much over.

And further to suppress any concerns Americans might have about China's rise, Mr. Waters offered this pithy analysis of why there is nothing to worry about.

The Chinese have a history of expanding and then collapsing, expanding and then collapsing.So Trump, the strategy is ride it out peacefully as they expand alongside them, peacefully.And when they collapse, you feast on their carcass.

Others were at it this week as well.CBS News, still the BBC's US media partner, even though it's now owned by Trump's backers, also engaged in open propaganda that the White House will have loved.Henry Kissinger must be spinning in his grave.In 1972, when he escorted President Richard Nixon to meet Chairman Mao in what we all still called Peking, he could not have imagined that 54 years later, America would have completely lost the plot, and demonstrated this week that it simply no longer has the maturity, the skill, or the focus to deal with China and see off the threat it poses to America's leadership position on the world stage.