Donald Trump just made an opening move in his global 3-D chess game with China. Graciously inviting communist president-for-life Xi Jinping to attend his inauguration. On the surface, that looks like Trump’s waving an olive branch. To the Pooh Bear, it looks a lot more like the middle finger that Trump’s flipping. Other world leaders will be there. The ones who need something from the Deplorable-in-Chief.
China snubbed with invite
Trump’s already upsetting China, diplomatically. Usually, it’s the ones who don’t get an invitation who feel snubbed. Not this time.
President Xi Jinping wouldn’t dare accept this one. Trump’s invitation is so politically poisonous it’s practically dripping with Novichok.
Even before the Chinese Embassy formally declined attendance, CNN was pointing out that “Getting Xi to fly across the world would be an enormous coup” for Trump. Such a visit, they write, “would put the Chinese president in the position of paying homage to Trump and American might.”
It’s China first for the Pooh Bear. The whole concept would “conflict with his vision for China’s assumption of a rightful role as a preeminent global power.”
Assuming Xi took Trump up on the opportunity, the Pooh Bear “would be forced to sit and listen to Trump without having any control over what the new president might say while lacking a right of reply.”
Any chance for a face-to-face meeting on the fringes would be overshadowed by the inauguration sideshow. Not only that, China can’t endorse a peaceful transfer of power because Xi’s clinging to power like an octopus.
Sends a message anyway
Trump’s move is considered a diplomatic masterstroke. Whether Xi accepted or not was never part of the equation but they expected polite refusal. “Trump’s invitation to Xi marks a significant development that sheds light on the president-elect’s confidence and ambition as he wields power ahead of his second term.”
It shows he’s up to the job of tangling with China. As opposed to Joe Biden, who (allegedly) preferred to take bribes from them.
In “a break with convention,” Trump’s been asking “other world leaders if they want to come to the inauguration.” It’s a party, have some fun, chat a little, he offers. You can expect French President Emanuel Macron to be there. He’ll probably be sitting next to Justin Trudeau of Canada. Next to Justin might be Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo.
The newly elected president of Mexico is just as anxious as Trudeau to ink a new trade deal. One that avoids those nasty “tariffs” Trump’s been threatening them with. China is also looking at some pretty steep export levies but bowing down to Trump at his big swearing in won’t help them at the negotiating table.
This, CNN observes, “is a reminder of Trump’s fondness for foreign policy by grand gesture and his willingness to trample diplomatic codes with his unpredictable approach.”
Simply inviting the supreme leader of communist China “shows that Trump believes that the force of his personality alone can be a decisive factor in forging diplomatic breakthroughs.” According to expert on Chinese policy Lily McElwee, “This is a very interesting move by Trump that fits very well with his practice of unpredictability. I don’t think anyone expected this.” Certainly, not the Pooh Bear.
