Third, could the two presidents enjoy a frank exchange of views on the numerous issues that divide Washington and Beijing, such that each could convey his bottom line on these issues to his counterpart? If not, could they at least lay out their most important priorities and, on this foundation, build a basis of cooperation that seeks out common ground among differences and respects each other’s aspirations and concerns?
Fourth, looking ahead, could the two presidents craft an institutionalised framework or format of cooperation that would be comprehensive in its coverage of issues, yet discard the Obama-era Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) that had proven top-heavy, clunky, and in the main, unproductive?
By all accounts, Trump and Xi made substantial progress on each of these fronts, despite the shadow of the US missile strike on Syria over their meeting.
At Mar-a-Lago, both presidents re-dedicated their countries to a pragmatic and productive bilateral relationship in the vein of their predecessors, grasping in the process, too, the immense symbolism of the occasion and the overriding importance of the bilateral relationship in regional and global affairs. To Trump’s credit, he appears to have fully come to grips with the reality that the US-China relationship is the most important bilateral relationship in the world, bar none.
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