Trump embraces Xi as peer, alarms partners and critics

TOI correspondent from Washington: A 48-hour state visit to the United States by China’s President Xi Jinping yielded no immediate major breakthroughs but confirmed the broad impression, in visuals and much as words, that Washington now accepts China as a peer in a new G-2 formulation.For all the talk of trade, artificial intelligence, Taiwan, Iran and strategic competition, the most consequential message of Xi’s visit may have been the choreography itself. A fawning Trump repeatedly described Xi as a friend and the relationship as a “great friendship,” with little personal reciprocity from the Chinese leader.The charitable explanation for what many critics said was Trump’s folding before Xi and muting his demands from and tirades against China was purportedly in the service of American farmers – his major voting bloc – who are getting screwed because Beijing cut down purchase of soy, corn, and other farm produce. In brief remarks during a tea ceremony, the MAGA supremo mentioned that the visit had yielded “great results” for American farmers without elaborating, but spoke of little else other than accepting Xi’s invitation to visit China.By most accounts, the summit produced a lot...