Washington:
US President Trump started his last day of the Beijing visit by insisting that Chinese leader Xi Jinping had “congratulated me on so many tremendous successes” and had been referring only to his predecessor, former US President Joe Biden, when he “very elegantly referred to the United States as perhaps being a declining nation”.
It was not immediately clear if Trump was referring to something Xi said behind closed doors or his mention of the “Thucydides Trap” during their summit in Beijing. Xi, on day 1 of Trump’s visit, opened his high-stakes meeting by arguing that stabilising US-China ties mattered not just for both economies but for the world. While Xi did not use the phrase “declining nation”, he asked whether both superpowers can avoid falling into the “Thucydides Trap” — a term that refers to a theory that a rising power and an established hegemon are destined for war.
In a long post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said Xi was “100 per cent correct” in his assessment that the United States was on a decline as the “country suffered immeasurably” due to the Biden administration’s policies on immigration, gender equality, international trade relations, among other issues.
“When President Xi very elegantly referred to the United States as perhaps being a declining nation, he was referring to the tremendous damage we suffered during the four years of Sleepy Joe Biden and the Biden administration, and on that score, he was 100 per cent correct,” Trump wrote.
“Our Country suffered immeasurably with open borders, high taxes, transgender for everybody, men in women’s sports, DEI, horrible trade deals, rampant crime, and so much more!”
The US leader insisted that relations between the world’s two biggest superpowers are good and getting better despite big differences on Iran, Taiwan and more. He insisted that the US underwent an “incredible rise” during what he called the “16 spectacular months” of his presidency and cited the record stock markets, his so-called military victories, a strong job market, and fresh investment commitments as signs of America’s resurgence.
“President Xi was not referring to the incredible rise that the United States has displayed to the world during the 16 spectacular months of the Trump Administration, which includes all-time high stock markets and 401K’s, military victory and thriving relationship in Venezuela, the military decimation of Iran (to be continued!) — Strongest military on earth by far, economic powerhouse again, with a record 18 trillion dollars being invested into the United States by others, best US job market in history, with more people working in the United States right now than ever before, ending country destroying DEI, and so many other things that it would be impossible to readily list,” Trump wrote.
“In fact, President Xi congratulated me on so many tremendous successes in such a short period of time,” he added.
The American commander-in-chief further claimed that two years ago, the US was, in fact, “a nation in decline”.
“On that, I fully agree with President Xi! But now, the United States is the hottest nation anywhere in the world, and hopefully our relationship with China will be stronger and better than ever before,” he added.
China Paints A Different Picture
However, Trump’s rosy outlook on the US-China relationship collides with some difficult truths about the thorniest issues between the two superpowers.
Beijing has shown little public interest in the US’ entreaties to get more involved in solving the conflict in Iran, even though Trump said in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity that Xi had, in their conversations, offered to help. And the White House believes China can still do more to stem the flow of Chinese-made precursor chemicals into Mexico, used to make illicit fentanyl that has troubled many US communities.
Xi, meanwhile, warned Trump during private talks that their differences on the self-ruled island of Taiwan, if handled poorly, could hurtle the world’s dominant powers toward “clashes and even conflicts”, according to Chinese government officials.
Trump and Xi are set to have more time together at Xi’s official residence in Beijing on Friday before the US leader makes the long journey back to Washington.
