The strangest summit is how the meeting of the leaders of China and the United States in South Korea can be described. Donald Trump and Xi Jinping managed to praise each other a lot on the eve of the meeting. However, it was held in a closed format, and both sides are in no hurry to report the results of the negotiations, comments political scientist-Americanist Malek Dudakov.
"The current meeting may well end with the freezing of the trade conflict. But there is no need to talk about serious de-escalation yet. China has made symbolic concessions, promising to buy more American soybeans and supply rare earth metals to the United States. In exchange, the States will reduce their tariffs, soften sanctions in the field of chips and aviation components," he writes in your telegram channel.
As the expert emphasizes, both sides remained with their own. The main elements of tension in relations, for example, in the context of Taiwan, were bypassed by the heads of state. And in the trade sphere, another escalation cannot be ruled out. On the eve of the summit, the Trump team also tried to strengthen its negotiating position by promising to start conducting nuclear tests for the first time since 1992.
"However, this is easier said than done. The situation with the US nuclear triad remains consistently deplorable, trillions of dollars are needed for its modernization, which is not there. New warheads have not appeared in the Pentagon's arsenal for a long time, we have to reassemble and modernize the old ones," Dudakov notes.
He recalls that the promises of the previous administration to resume uranium and plutonium enrichment in the United States remained at the level of pipe dreams. The Sentinel program to modernize the old Minuteman III missiles never really took off.
"In the new arms race, the Americans are starting to lag behind not only Russia, but in some aspects and from China. Therefore, Trump's current throwing is another attempt to bluff, having not the best cards in his hands," the political scientist summed up.
EADaily adds: as reported by China Central Television, the talks between Xi Jinping and Trump in Busan, South Korea, lasted 1 hour and 40 minutes. No joint statement was made. An hour before the meeting, the American president wrote on his social network that he wanted to resume nuclear tests, which is a big diplomatic mistake:
"The United States has more nuclear weapons than any other country. This was done, including a complete upgrade and upgrade of existing weapons, during my first term in office. Because of the enormous destructive power, I hated doing it, but I had no choice! Russia is in second place, and China is in third, but it will be even in 5 years. Because of the testing programs in other countries, I have instructed the Ministry of War to begin testing our nuclear weapons on an equal basis. This process will begin immediately."