Donald Trump enjoyed all the pomp and circumstance of his trip to see China’s president Xi Jinping, but left Beijing with China continuing to help Iran in its war against the US and Israel – and no significant trade deals agreed with the rival superpower.
He was played as predictably as he was in his Alaska summit in Anchorage with Vladimir Putin.
Confronted with a Chinese economy that is fast expanding its military power and has eclipsed the US in global control of rare-earth minerals, the US president was treated to festivals of flags and flower-waving, a banquet, and blatant contempt wrapped in spectacle to distract a global leader so far out of his depth he doesn’t know he is drowning.
The 47th president of the US so enjoyed his two-day trip that he felt comfortable enough to heap racist praise on his host.
Xi was, he told Fox News, “tall, very tall, and especially for this country, because they tend to be a little bit shorter”.
One can only guess what the Chinese said about Trump behind his back. We can assume from the briefings from Beijing that it was not flattering, given that China reminded him to stay out of Taiwanese issues or risk an outright conflict.
Trump hoped to flog some planes. Boeing, he said, got an order for 200 aircraft. Good news, except the company had hoped to sell China 500.
And when it came to any support against Iran’s military machine – which relies heavily on Chinese components for its missiles and drones, 60 per cent of which are reported to have survived the US-Israeli bombardment intact – Trump got nothing.
A renewed agreement that Iran should not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons is a repeat of China’s longstanding policy.
There was also no commitment from China to use its leverage with Tehran to open the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has blocked since it was attacked in February, driving oil prices above $100 (£74) a barrel.
This should have been an easy agreement to get, since China obtains almost half of its oil supply from the Arabian Gulf. It also enjoys a discount on sanctioned Iranian oil exports, which the US is blockading now.
All the Chinese foreign ministry had to say on Iran was: “This conflict, which should never have happened, has no reason to continue.”
In fact, China has sat back to watch how Trump will wriggle out of an illegal war he started alongside Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes in Gaza.
As Trump wound up his visit to China, Iran saw an opportunity to once again demonstrate the limits of US power.
Abas Araqchi, Iran’s foreign minister, said his country has “no trust” in Washington and will negotiate only if the US is serious.
In a gift to China, he also said that all vessels can now transit through the Strait of Hormuz – apart from those belonging to countries that are at war with Iran.
How that is defined remains to be seen, but it reinforces the global perception that Iran’s regime, which backs terrorism, kills its internal opponents and causes instability across the Middle East, is actually a victim.
China had everything to gain from giving Trump a little diplomatic win with an undertaking to lean on Tehran. But Xi didn’t need to bother, having distracted Trump with the theatre of being in his presence.
Xi, like Putin, is a man that Trump would like to be. The Chinese and Russian leaders rule with near absolute power, untrammelled by real democracy.
Trump has aped their domestic approach by making the military and security services entirely dependent on him; he is working to dissolve the independence of the judiciary; and he has created a class of oligarchs who are dependent on his policies for their personal enrichment.
But while Trump has no vision beyond his own power and the creation of wealth for his cronies, Xi has a strategic vision and plan that extends China’s power across the coming decades.
The US has the biggest economy in the world. It has the most powerful military. Its cultural norms reach into every household on earth with access to a TV streaming service. And yet Trump is brushed off with a tea party in Beijing, and sent home with a meagre goody bag.
