China is deeply concerned about the possibility its president, Xi Jinping, will suffer some kind of embarrassment when he meets with President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago this week.
“Ensuring President Xi does not lose face is a top priority for China,” a Chinese official told Reuters. Xi typically operates in an environment where meetings and public appearances are strictly scripted.
Embarrassment was a factor in early preparations for a phone conversation between Trump and Xi after the president took office. Before the call took place, Trump first sent Xi a letter, which was a potentially preferable start to bilateral talks. Diplomatic sources in Beijing told Reuters that China was worried that an unpleasant phone call might humiliate China’s president. There were big concerns that the details could be leaked to the media, as was the case with certain other calls.
“That is the last thing China wants,” an inside source close to the issue told Reuters, “It would be incredibly embarrassing for President Xi and for the Chinese people, who value the concept of face.” (RELATED: Trump Gives Prime Minister The Bro-iest Handshake In The History Of International Politics)
China works hard to ensure that its president is treated in a way that they consider befitting of a leader of a great power. Anything else would be regarded as an affront to Chinese national pride. But the Trump administration is going into the meeting with a lot of energy and a piecemeal China policy, making Trump’s actions significantly harder for the Chinese anticipate, a situation which puts Chinese officials on edge.
Trump has been very open in his criticism of China on a broad spectrum of issues ranging from trade to the nuclear threat posed by North Korea. Trump has predicted the upcoming meeting with Xi will be “very difficult,” but, at the same time, has said that he “would not be at all surprised if we did something very dramatic.”
“The Chinese government is well aware that Trump might act unpredictably and will take steps to minimize the opportunity for any embarrassments,” William Heidlage, research director at the business advisory firm BowerGroupAsia, explained to CNBC. “The summit will be a relatively private affair, with only a few well-planned moments open to the press.”
While Trump may lack diplomatic experience, his unpredictability has the potential to serve as an advantage in negotiations with the Chinese, who Trump calls “the best negotiators in the world.”
“He wants to be unpredictable towards the Chinese,” Michael Pillsbury, a renowned China expert and adviser to the president’s team told CGTN, a Chinese state broadcaster, in January. “To get an advantage, he wants to be unpredictable in the eyes of the Chinese government.”
Trump has advocated unpredictability in his writings.
“The element of surprise wins battles. So, I don’t tell the other side what I’m doing, I don’t warn them, and I don’t let them fit me comfortably into a predictable pattern,” Trump argued in his most recent book, “I don’t want people to know exactly what I’m doing — or thinking. I like being unpredictable,” he added.
Trump’s unpredictability raises the stakes, as any misstep could lead to a confrontation, but it could also pave the way to a renegotiation of the principles of the bilateral relationship to better serve American interests.
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