Compare and contrast. Chloe Taylor reported on President Trump’s visit to China in May at CNBC:
U.S. President Donald Trump has landed in Beijing for a highly anticipated presidential summit with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.
Trump is being accompanied on the trip by a group of executives from some of America’s most valuable companies, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Nvidia
boss Jensen Huang.The president was greeted on the tarmac by a brass band and flag wavers, who performed as he descended the steps of Air Force One.
He was received by China’s vice president, as the accompanying illustration confirms. In other words, he (and the various U. S. CEOs) was snubbed. That forms an interesting contrast with Michelle L. Price and Didi Tang’s report on President Xi’s arrival at Associated Press yesterday evening:
WASHINGTON (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Washington on Wednesday, where he was met with a rare planeside greeting from President Donald Trump after their top officials agreed to extend a trade truce until January.
Trump’s Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the extension of the truce — under which the countries agreed to scale back tariffs and refrain from imposing new trade restrictions — during a Fox News Channel interview as Trump welcomed Xi at Joint Base Andrews just outside Washington.
“I don’t know whether a bigger deal can be done. I don’t know whether we will just roll the current deal,” Bessent said in the interview, noting the extension to Jan. 10 could give the leaders more time to talk about the issues at upcoming international summits in China in November and Florida in December.
Xi did not meet Trump’s plane in Beijing; Vice President Han Zheng did. Yesterday Trump went further in one conspicuous respect: he personally met Xi’s plane. Whether Trump considered the earlier reception a slight is unknowable, but the difference in rank at the airport is plain. Xi has already received a rare public honor without having to alter China’s negotiating position. What, if anything, Trump obtains in return remains to be seen.
For man who is claimed to be so thin-skinned and quick to seek retribution against those he perceives slight him, that is a remarkably warm and expansive greeting. Either President Trump did not see his reception in China as a slight, it didn’t matter to him, he genuinely respects President Xi, he wants something from him, or several of the foregoing. President Xi can accept the honors without visibly changing China’s position, while Trump has already made the gesture. That gives Xi the immediate symbolic gain. That all may seem trivial to Americans but it’s interpreted differently by a Chinese audience.
