Yet since Trump became president, his view seems to have shifted dramatically. The more he has spoken with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the more pro-China he has sounded. And by the time he visited Beijing for the first time, in November, Trump was projecting stunning optimism about the possibility of closer ties between Beijing and Washington. [...]
How long this Damascene conversion lasts, or whether it produces anything good for America, remains to be seen. But for now, one thing is abundantly clear: A presidential candidate who attacked China in harsher terms than any before him now seems more comfortable with Beijing than any of his predecessors.
When one examines Trump’s musings on international politics for the past 30-odd years, in both his writing and his public appearances, there’s one consistent theme: The world is a zero-sum place. If an agreement or policy benefits another country, it hurts America — and vice versa. [...]
Early in his presidency, it seemed like Trump might turn this rhetoric into policy action. During the transition, he spoke directly with the president of Taiwan — a shot at China that no previous American president had been willing to take. In March, he blasted China on Twitter for failing to stop North Korea’s nuclear development. It seemed like the first meeting between Trump and President Xi, on April 6, would be brutally awkward. [...]
The budding friendship between Trump and Xi appears to have profoundly shifted Trump’s view of US-China relations. Why the two men have gotten along so well isn’t clear; reporters aren’t allowed in their private meetings. But it makes some sense given Trump’s apparent admiration for strongmen across the world, like Russia’s Vladimir Putin and the Philippines’ Rodrigo Duterte (both more thuggishly violent than Xi).
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