China’s Party Boss Talks on Same Day With Trump and Putin

Communist China’s party boss, Xi Jinping, is playing President Trump off Russia’s President Putin while looking for influence in crisis points from Iran to North and South Korea. Mr. Xi’s desire to advance China’s role as a middleman between America and Russia was clear in a single day in which he talked first with Mr. Putin in Moscow and then with Mr. Trump in Washington.The biggest difference between the two conversations was the means by which they communicated. Messrs. Trump and Xi spoke via telephone whereas Messrs. Putin and Xi conducted a “virtual” conversation in which they could see one another.The common denominator of the two conversations was the quest for peace, good-will and friendship, as reported by China’s state propaganda machine. Mr. Xi, though, got more specific with Mr. Putin than with Mr. Trump. China and Russia, after all, are allies sharing a border stretching 2,615 miles, and both are staunch allies of North Korea . With Mr. Putin, Mr. Xi said China and Russia should increase “high-level exchanges and strengthen pragmatic cooperation” in an apparent reference to reports of differences between them, China’s state news agency Xinhua reported Xi called for China and Russia to “work together to maintain global strategic stability as the international situation has become increasingly turbulent.”With Mr. Trump, Mr. Xi said that he hoped to work with him “to steer the giant ship of China-U.S. relations steadily through wind wind and storms and accomplish more big things and good things” He did not have to mention the tensions that have reached the boiling point on numerous occasions as Washington challenges China’s claim to the entire South China Sea, views China’s from the South Pacific to the Indian Ocean with increasing alarm. Nor did they talk specifically about tariffsMr. Xi, however, was quite specific on one point. He “emphasized that the Taiwan question is the most important issue in China-U.S. relations,” Xinhua reported. “China must safeguard its own sovereignty and territorial integrity, and will never allow Taiwan to be separated,” Xinhua quoted him as saying. Surprisingly, however, Mr. Xi did not appear overly alarmed by Mr. Trump’s approval of the sale to the island democracy of Taiwan of arms totaling $10 billion, including drones, howitzers and medium-range missiles. According to Xinhua, Mr. Xi merely warned that America “must handle the issue of arms sales to Taiwan with prudence.”The tone of that remark, in a conversation betraying no sign of tensions between China and America, implied that China is nowhere near mounting an invasion to place Taiwan under Beijing’s control. Xinhua, however, did not report that Messrs. Xi and Trump had touched briefly on Iran. Mr. Trump, according to the Associated Press, told Mr. Xi he’s considering “taking military action“ while imposing a 25 percent tariff on products from countries doing business with Iran, which ships oil to China as well as America’s northeast Asian allies, Japan and Korea.Rather, Xinhua reported Mr. Trump as saying America “would like to work with China and make more progress in bilateral ties.” As for Taiwan, Xinhua reported, Mr. Trump assured Mr. Xi “he understands how China feels about the Taiwan question.”

China’s Party Boss Talks on Same Day With Trump and Putin

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