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NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with former U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns about Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Washington and what has been accomplished.
Transcript
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
OK. For more, let's bring in Nicholas Burns here. He was the United States ambassador to China from 2021 to 2025. He's now an international relations scholar at Harvard University. Good morning, ambassador. Welcome back to the program.
NICHOLAS BURNS: Good morning, Leila.
FADEL: So we just heard from our correspondent Deepa Shivaram that there was little in the way of grand bargains coming out of this much-trumpeted visit between - state visit between President Trump and President Xi. What, if anything, do you think the visit achieved?
BURNS: You know, I think that the fact that they met is important. These are the two most important leaders in the world. This is our most difficult relationship in the world.
FADEL: Yeah.
BURNS: Highly challenged. And so we need our heads of government to be working together. I think it's been positive. This is the second meeting this year, perhaps two more in November and December. That's one, I think, benefit. The second is that Scott Bessent, the Treasury secretary, was able to negotiate with the Chinese. There's going to be a tariff truce and a supply chain truce. Neither side will continue that war through January of this year.
Obviously, they want to extend it far beyond that. That would give our economic relationship some badly needed stability. So I think those are two benefits from this visit. I am, Leila, impressed in another way, maybe a more negative way, by the symbolism. You know, the American people want their president to be polite and civil to a foreign leader.
FADEL: Yeah.
BURNS: That just makes sense. But the over-the-top flattery by President Trump of President Xi - the red carpets, the pomp and circumstance, the marching bands - President Xi is not going to be swayed by that. He's highly intelligent, obviously. He is not sentimental. And he's very cynical about the United States. And his government's aim is to overtake us in power. They're highly competitive with us. So that, I thought, was unseemly.
For an American president to say we've got a great personal friendship, we have a great relationship - we actually have a very difficult relationship. And there's an unwritten rule in American diplomacy - you want to treat your friends better than your adversaries. And so I would've rather have seen, frankly, a state visit and state dinner for the Japanese prime minister, who's in the United States this week, Sanae Takaichi, to show the Chinese we want to have a correct relationship with you, however difficult, but we're going to favor our allies. So that, I thought, was a missed opportunity by the administration.
FADEL: Has that been kind of the tone that the president has set in many different ways? I mean, we've heard allies often talk about that, where he's been more cozy with adversaries.
BURNS: I think it's a major problem in the Trump presidency. He is entirely uncritical publicly, President Trump, of President Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un. And yet, the president is extraordinarily critical of Prime Minister Mark Carney, who's our friend and ally in Canada. So this is a major change in the way American presidents have acted towards the world. We are stronger with our allies than without them. And I found, as ambassador to China, we need Japan, Korea on our side when we talk to the Chinese. We need the European NATO allies. We certainly need Canada. So I would hope that the administration would go back to a policy of honoring our allies. I think we'd be stronger with the Chinese if we did that.
FADEL: Now, you mentioned a couple good things, that the visit happened at all and that there was this extension of the trade truce.
BURNS: Yeah.
FADEL: But the big issues - the bigger issues, might I say - is, you know, the issue of China being the larger importer of Iranian oil, China's support...
BURNS: Yes.
FADEL: ...Of Russia in the war with Ukraine, the issue of AI. I mean, these didn't seem to be at the forefront.
BURNS: I think that's a striking aspect, Leila, of this summit, in fact, with President Trump's diplomacy towards China. What is missing? President Trump does not appear to be pushing Xi Jinping on China's massive cyberattacks against American cities and towns, against our infrastructure. President Trump is not criticizing China for its support for Iran fighting the United States, its support for Russia invading Ukraine.
And, you know, the Chinese right now are trying to intimidate our treaty allies, Japan in the East China Sea, the Philippines in the West China Sea (ph). There are human rights issues. Jimmy Lai, this great human rights champion for freedom of the press, is unfairly given a life sentence in jail. And so there's so much on the substantive side that we have to tackle. But President Trump feels - he appears really focused on the personal relationship. I think that's a major miscalculation.
FADEL: Nicholas Burns served as the U.S. ambassador to China under President Biden. Thank you for your time and your insights.
BURNS: Thank you very much.
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